Change
by TsurugiNoba
Summary: Iruka's near death at the hands of Mizuki has opened Naruto's eyes to the real world of shinobi. In order for him to protect the people he holds dear, he needs to become stronger. In his pursuit of strength, he learns of his heritage and decides to carry on the Uzumaki legacy in his own way.
1. Change

**A/N:** Hello, and welcome to the first chapter in my story. I decided to make this story mostly out of displeasure with how Kishimoto wrote a story with such potential. That said, check out this chapter and let me know what you think. Please review and comment if you like the story. I look forward to seeing where this goes. : )

By the way, I have decided to set this story a year before the rookies graduate. The reasons for that will become clear later, I promise. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Change**

Underneath the stoic stone faces on the side of a mountain, the citizens of Konohagakure could be seen closing their shops and turning in for an approaching night. However, in the shadow of the sunset, the ninja inhabiting the village remain active to protect its precious residents. Suddenly, several fleets of the village's defenders could be seen moving with great haste towards the massive building at this village's center.

Inside of that building, a man with great stature stood looking outside of the window of his chambers. Despite his age, he commanded the respect of every member of the very people he had sworn to protect, including the shinobi and kunoichi now filling his room.

"What's up, dad." He put out his cigarette he was smoking on his flak jacket and tucked it into a pocket. His lax attitude betrayed how serious he knew receiving a call from the Hokage was.

The elderly man known as the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sighed, showing his exhaustion, and turned around to face the most elite of his ninja, who had gathered before him.

"Thank you for assembling here today. I will cut to the point, as time is of the essence. The _Fuin no Sho_ _(Scroll of Seals)_ has been stolen."

The Jonin in the room grew stone-faced at the announcement, but remained silent.

"I need you all to search for the culprit. You should be able to recognize whomever stole the scroll, as they should still have it on their person. Scour every corner of this village until you find them...And bring them alive. Dismissed." he said, turning back around.

The moment his back faced them, a giant cloud of smoke masked the disappearance of everyone in the room. Hiruzen could see his shinobi jumping along the rooftops in various directions in accordance with his commands.

While he should have felt assured that his most trusted ninja were on the case, something about all of this wore on him. He couldn't help but think that the turnout of this coming night would shape the future of this village.

* * *

"I got it!"

Bouncing from branch to branch to an isolated part of the forests of Konohagakure, an orange-clad 12-year old boy carrying a large scroll on his back could be seen moving with great haste.

 _"I can't wait to be a Genin!"_ he thought.

"Naruto!"

The voice of his teacher stopped him cold. Shortly after he stopped, he looked behind him to find the disappointed visage of a man with a scar on his face.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei!"

"Don't 'hey' me, Naruto. Why do you have that scroll? The contents of that scroll are extremely dangerous and shouldn't be in the hands of anyone but the Hokage. How did you even get past all the ninja guarding the vault...?" Iruka asked. His tone dictated his annoyance, but he was relieved to find that the scroll was not taken by an enemy or rogue ninja.

"I've pranked Hokage-jiji so many times that I know that place like the back of my hand, Iruka-sensei. My mind is scary." Naruto said with a grin.

"Indeed it is. Well done, Naruto."

The two turned to face a silver-haired man, somewhat older than Iruka, clad in the same uniform. His visage was much less friendly. The two large shuriken on his back seemed unusually foreboding for someone that was meant to be an ally. Naruto stood at his teacher's side, clearly alarmed and fearful, feeling the dangerous aura put out by the arrival of this ninja.

"So that's it." Iruka said, getting into a low stance with a hand on his weapon's pouch. "You made Naruto get the scroll. Why, Mizuki!?"

The Chuunin put his hand on his forehead and chuckled. Slowly, his expression grew more manic.

"Idiot...the kid can't graduate if he can't make a simple _Bunshin (Clone)_. It wasn't that much trouble to trick him into getting me the scroll. As for the 'why', I don't think it matters to you. I don't believe I need to answer to some second-rate ninja anyway."

The sounds of the forest grew quiet after the heinous act of the academy instructor had been revealed.

"W-wait...you tricked me?" Naruto said, clenching his hands. He was noticeably frozen in place, out of anger or disappointment nobody could tell.

Mizuki merely scoffed and lowered his stance, taking one of the massive shuriken on his back and hurling it toward Naruto. Iruka's eyes locked onto the shuriken as his adrenaline rose, signaling the beginning of the battle. However, the weapon's massive size and speed left Iruka few options for a response. The scarred man grabbed Naruto by his jacket and tossed him out of the way before dodging the large metal star with a well-timed jump to the side. The blond-haired boy hit the floor hard, but he was safe. At least, before Mizuki decided to charge at him.

 _"Shit...he separated us!"_ Iruka exclaimed.

Upon realizing that his student was in danger, he pulled out a few kunai. Feeling the black metal secured in between his fingers, he tossed them at a spot slightly in front of the scared boy and followed his knives with another kunai in his grip. Mizuki scowled when he noticed the oncoming projectiles and was forced to jump into the air to avoid the deadly kunai. The silver-haired Chuunin failed to notice that his opponent was hot on his heels, however. The knife that Iruka was holding had been thrown and was sailing through the air en-route to Mizuki's location. Grunting in frustration, the silver-haired Chuunin curled up and covered himself as the kunai cut through his guard, embedding itself slightly in his arm.

As he landed, he angrily ripped it out of his arm and took the second massive shuriken off the holster on his back into his hands.

"You mediocre bastard! I'm going to kill you first. You've been a thorn in my side ever since we were children!" he exclaimed, giving into his rage at a good plan going awry.

"I can't believe you would stoop so low as to attack an academy student!" Iruka said with some anger of his own.

"He's not worth being called a student...He's a monster! He killed your parents! That brat's even terrorized the villagers with his ridiculous pranks! I'd be doing everyone a favor if I just killed him now...And all I want is a little...compensation for my deeds."

Naruto flinched at hearing the hatred spewing from the academy instructor. Staying behind Iruka and trying to appear as invisible as possible behind the large scroll that he was holding, he wondered what he did to deserve all of the torment that he endured during his short 12 year life. Sure he performed tons of pranks, but he only did that to be acknowledged by everyone who clearly didn't believe in him. They never hurt anyone, nor was it anything that was irreparable.

"He's not a monster!" Iruka shouted with fervor. "Now come quietly before I have to hurt you and drag you into the Sandaime's office myself."

Suddenly, Iruka recoiled, wondering how the massive bladed weapon in Mizuki's hands ended up in his back. He knew that his spine wasn't impaled, but it was pretty damn close. Within seconds after Iruka's observation of his injuries, the Mizuki in front of him popped into smoke, leaving a log behind.

"Basic _Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique)_."

Iruka looked behind him and saw that Mizuki was on a branch above Naruto and Iruka.

"Maybe if you didn't let your skills go to waste, you would have seen that I set one up at the beginning of this fight."

Iruka found the damage from the massive shuriken in his back so debilitating that he fell over, taking to his knee to keep him upright. He began to sweat profusely as his very life blood began to pool, creating a dark red stain on his jacket. The silver-haired shinobi gave the two a dangerous smile as he realized that he was near his goal with little effort. However, as quickly as his roguish smile came, a frown took hold of his face when he noticed Naruto taking a defensive stance in front of Iruka.

"Surely you can't think that you're strong enough to take me on, you damned brat." Mizuki said.

"You won't hurt my sensei anymore." he said, crossing his fingers in a hand sign.

"Oh?"

"Yeah! _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_ _(Shadow Clone Jutsu)_!" he yelled.

A massive burst of smoke surrounded the small clearing that the battle was taking place in. After a brief moment, Mizuki saw that Naruto had vanished completely. Mizuki grit his teeth after realizing that he had been fooled into believing that a talentless kid could have possibly mastered a Jonin level technique.

"Enough of your pranks!" Mizuki said.

"This isn't a game." a voice from above him said.

Mizuki looked up and immediately felt his heart drop like a stone. As he stared upon the angered faces of hundreds of clones of Naruto, he felt his mouth dry up in his fear. The voice came from the Naruto standing on a rigid branch across from him. He began to speak again once he had Mizuki's attention.

"You know, I should thank you for showing me the reality of what it means to be a ninja...But I also want to smash your face in." Naruto said with a venom that would intimidate any ninja. "I've always been dead-last in my class...but I guess that's gotta change if I have any hope of dealing with scum like you."

Mizuki paled, but grew even more angry.

"I'm not scum, you demon!"

Now it was Naruto's turn to show his rage. The blond's eyes began to flash red while his pupils became thinner and appeared much like a snake's. Suddenly, one of the clone that was on a branch above the silver-haired chunin jumped off and threw a punch to the back of Mizuki's head. The tightened fist struck him, sending him off the branch and slamming him into the cold dirt below. After a slight recovery, the chunin dug his fingers into the dirt and banged a fist into the ground in frustration.

"Damn you!" he shouted, looking in the direction that he was hit from.

However, Naruto was more focused on mounting his offensive to end this fight - permanently - instead of sending an equally venomous retort. All of the orange-clad clones jumped off their branches, diving toward Mizuki with chambered fists. With a massive battle-cry, the first clone fell with a fist to Mizuki's face, dispelling in a cloud of smoke upon hitting the floor. Through the smoke, the next one delivered a punch to the back, flatting Mizuki out onto the floor. As each clone followed, Mizuki screamed as he was beaten into the ground under the cover of the smoke. Iruka was absolutely astonished that Naruto could do so much damage in such a coordinated manner. He knew that Mizuki wasn't able to substitute out of the punishment either, since he hadn't made a hand sign earlier. Soon after the relentless barrage, Mizuki's screams stopped. As the smoke cleared, Mizuki's body was seen half-buried in the ground.

The real Naruto, who had been standing on the same branch the entire time, jumped down, looking at Mizuki's body for signs of movement. After he was satisfied that he was put down, he walked over to Iruka.

"Sorry sensei. It was my fault that you got hurt." Naruto said with genuine concern. Iruka looked at Naruto, realizing that his eyes had become more hardened. He chalked it up to the already tormented boy being faced with the death of someone that he held dear. He simply nodded in acknowledgment of Naruto's concern and pointed to the large metal object in his back that had seemingly gone ignored.

"Can you pull this out?" Iruka said.

Before Naruto could, a jonin with a cigarette in his mouth and messy, spiky black hair hopped down from the trees.

"I wouldn't do that, kid. He might have some spinal injuries if that isn't handled properly. With all that smoke, you've alerted pretty much everybody in the area. He'll get some medical attention soon."

Iruka nodded and relaxed when he saw the man. The damage wasn't so extensive that he couldn't wait a few minutes. Naruto, on the other hand, stood in front of Iruka, keeping his eyes on the newcomer.

"Thank you, Asuma-san." Iruka said, tempering his breaths so the pangs of pain shooting through his body would be dulled.

Asuma grunted and walked over to the body of the silver-haired chunin that was half-buried. He immediately noted his torn muscles and broken bones. After putting a hand on his back, he saw that his spine was crushed, effectively paralyzing him, if not killing him.

After observing the damage done, the dark-haired smoker looked over to Naruto, noticing his defensive stare. This wasn't his first time seeing the carrier of the Kyuubi, but back then his eyes looked desolate. Looking at the state of Iruka, there was no way that he could have done this kind of damage. Slowly piecing together the state of the battlefield allowed him to deduce that Naruto took out this chunin on his own. With a smile, he picked up the body and threw it over his shoulder. Looking at Naruto once more, Asuma leapt into the trees and out of sight.

When Iruka and his pupil were alone again, Naruto sighed and fell onto his back. Iruka was initially worried, however upon further inspection, the scarred man found that the blond dozed off.

"You might not being doing well in your classes now, but I have a feeling that it won't stop you will it, Naruto?" he thought with a soft smile.

* * *

 _"You may just be a worthy vessel after all..."_

Naruto woke up with a start at the sound of the evil, imposing voice. He found himself staring at a wall directly in front of him. After looking around, he realized that he was in his room. Moving his cerulean eyes left and right, he discerned that his room was in the state that he had left it yesterday.

Yesterday! That's right! The rush of memories informed him of his events in the past day! The blond grimaced. His sensei got hurt and it was his fault. He was too weak. All this time that he spent pulling pranks just to get attention from people that _still_ hate him. He could have spent his time training and getting closer to his dream of being Hokage!

He hopped out of bed, barely feeling the cold wood floor of his apartment on his toes due to his excitement. After stretching his muscles out, Naruto threw off his dirty clothes and took a fresh, bright orange jumpsuit, befitting only of a future Hokage.

" _I should train today."_ he thought, a full smile gracing his face.

The driven boy entered the bathroom in his apartment to brush his teeth and wash himself up in preparation for a day of training. He ran out minutes later, passing his bedroom and living room area and found his way into the kitchen.

Crouching near the sink, he glided his hand on the wooden cupboard until he found the small handle. Pulling it open and reaching inside, he found a plastic cup with his favorite golden treat inside.

"Ah...no matter what changes in my life, I'll always have the food of the gods." he said, holding up the cup ramen in front of his face.

After his small breakfast, the ninja-hopeful threw the still-warm cup into the trash bin.

"Alright! I wonder if I can check out the library..."

He pondered about getting into the library, however, he knew that the ones in charge of the establishment, like the shopkeepers of Konoha, wouldn't let him in. He sat down on the floor of his kitchen for what must have been half an hour before smacking himself in the forehead.

"Duh...I can just _Henge_ _(Transform)_ into someone else." Naruto said, picking himself up off the floor and raising two fingers in front of his chest.

After gathering some chakra and visualizing a random shinobi that he saw on the street one day, a burst of smoke stretched out from his body. As the vapor diffused, Naruto appeared as a completely different young shinobi with short brown hair. After checking his appearance in a mirror for the signature Konoha headband that would get him into the library, he walked out into the warm and sunny village that he called home.

Upon arriving at the library, the disguised blond looked around and spotted an old man at the receptionist desk. Reasoning that he was the one to talk to about where to find ninja scrolls with techniques inside, Naruto walked over to him. Each step that he took made him more nervous.

 _"...It's one thing when you're planning it, but it's completely different when you're doing it."_ Naruto thought.

When he finally arrived at the front of the reception desk, he cleared his throat with enthusiasm - perhaps, too much - and, with a clearly made-up voice, asked for the location of the scrolls of interest. The elderly man looked at him up and down. Naruto found himself nearly sweating and took to tapping the desk to relieve his anxiety. After what felt like minutes, the elderly man nodded and pointed to a particular path at the far end of the hallway. With a smile, the transformed Naruto walked calmly, looking around as he walked. The library was rather simple. The entrance led to a foyer area with a door leading to the massive space used for the library. There were shelves upon shelves of scrolls and books all lined up in cases. The cases were lined up in rows so that one could enter the space and remove scrolls or books at their leisure. The ninja techniques, however, were restricted to ninja and those permitted by the receptionist or the Hokage.

Naruto walked down the path, smiling with glee since he knew he would be learning some new techniques soon.

" _Why didn't I do this earlier?_ " Naruto asked himself.

Suddenly, he stopped. A book in a row that he didn't intend to enter had drawn his eyes. The spine of the book contained the same spiral symbol that one would see on any official Konoha garb, but it also contained the word 'Uzushiogakure' in black text. He grabbed the book and stared at it for a second, wondering exactly what this book contained. Naruto's curiosity led him to opening the book before he reached a desk. If he wasn't curious before, now he was driven to know the contents of this book as his eyes locked onto a word that he was very familiar with.

"Uzumaki..." he whispered.

Flipping to the beginning of the book, he read everything about Uzushiogakure's history, from its inception to its partnership with Konoha to its eventual destruction. Before the young Uzumaki knew it, several hours had passed. After reading the last sentence of the passage he closed the book. To say that he was upset would have been an understatement. He had lost his entire family, which was apparently deeply respected in Konoha, to people that felt threatened by them. To him, the fact that there were survivors, coupled with the fact that he was born in Konoha meant that it was possible that there might be some Uzumaki remaining in the village.

"Then why wouldn't Jiji tell me anything?!" he whispered with poorly-controlled anger.

The Hokage must have had a reason for not telling him about his family. The more pressing question was that if his family was so respected, then why was he so hated? He knew that these questions needed some answering, but he took solace in the fact that he knew something about where he came from. The boy made it a point to visit the ruins of Uzushiogakure one day. For now, however, he decided to get more information on his family.

He got up from his chair and checked himself to make sure that his transformation was still active. He silently thanked his parents, whoever they may be, for gifting him with such a massive chakra reserve; normally, there was no way someone could hold a transformation for this long.

"You seem troubled by what you've read."

Naruto looked over and saw the short, elderly man that greeted him when he entered. He noticed the orange glow of the setting sun on his tan skin. It was not bright enough to cause a glare from his bald head. The Uzumaki realized that it must have been afternoon. It was a long book, after all.

"I know who you are, you know."

Naruto didn't say anything and continued to look at the man with curiosity.

"Perhaps you should take these two." the old man said, holding out a scroll and another book. "I was waiting for you to come here, Uzumaki Naruto."

The flinch from Naruto was detected by the old man, and he laughed.

"I've seen many ninja come and go through the doors of this library. I can detect a simple _Henge_ , young man. I would like to speak with you. I believe we have much to talk about." he said with a kind voice.

The fear on Naruto's face made itself known to the old man as he began to shiver and retreat, separating himself and the man with the chair he was sitting at.

"So this is what the population of Konoha has done to you...poor child. Be assured that I will not hurt you, however, I understand that you may be hesitant to trust me. How about you take these items and give them a look. I think you will find that I could be useful to you."

Naruto looked at the items that he was being presented and took them quickly.

"Since the library is about to close, you may take those items with you and go back home. Feel free to take that book on Uzushiogakure and keep it as well. I feel that it is your right."

He stared at the man in disbelief. Was he really just giving him these items for free? Nobody ever gave him anything for free. But he wasn't about to refuse the man's offer. Grabbing the book off the table, he ran away, failing noticing the smile on the man's face.

* * *

Within a few minutes, he was home again. After dropping his transformation and locking his door, he sighed deeply and pressed his back against the wall. He slowly looked down at the objects in his hand. In his right hand, the book and scroll he was given, and in his left, the book on the history of Uzushiogakure. Before he could make his next move, however, he realized that he had not eaten since the morning. After placing the books and scroll underneath a sofa cushion in his living room, he opened the door and took a step out into the fading light.

The prankster decided to take the rooftops to his favorite eatery, Ichiraku Ramen, to avoid the hateful villagers that would undoubtedly bother him. Upon dropping down in front of the ramen stand, a soft gasp reached Naruto's ears. Upon turning to the direction of the sound, he saw someone disappear around the corner of the stand. Believing that it was weird that someone would hide from him, he dashed to the corner with the hope of catching whoever it was before they got away. Unfortunately, that person did not leave, leading to an embarrassing collision. Fortunately, neither of them lost their balance enough for them to fall on their backs.

"Agh. I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Naruto said with some concern.

The girl staring back at him with a heavy blush on her face was not unfamiliar to him. In fact, the young lady would be graduating with him in the next year. Despite how familiar they were to each other, he still didn't understand why this particular girl acted differently than literally every female he's known in his life. He couldn't even say her name without her stammering over her next words.

"Hinata? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

She tried to find words to answer him, but she couldn't.

"Oh no. I didn't hurt you, did I?" Naruto said with a worried expression on his face.

"No I-I'm okay, Naruto-kun. What are you doing here?" Hinata asked, desperately trying to derail Naruto's train of questioning.

"Well, I was about to have some dinner."

" _Success._ " she thought when her gambit proved to be effective.

"Want to join me?" he asked with a characteristic, wide grin.

She silently gasped. There was the smile that constantly made her heart jump. The amount of confidence that the blond had in himself never ceased to floor her. She hoped that, one day soon, she would be able to speak to him confidently. She knew though that the only way for her confidence to improve was to practice it. What better of an opportunity did she have than now, with the object of her affection?

"I'd love to." she said, possibly coming off as a little too excited.

"Great! Ramen always tastes better with a friend." Naruto said with noticeable happiness.

The two walked around the corner of his favorite ramen joint and took their seats.

"Hoh-hoh..."

A brown-haired female grinned and chuckled slowly at Naruto sitting down with a girl of a similar age.

"Hiya, Ayame-neechan. This is Hinata-chan." he said, completely oblivious to the tone she used to greet the two.

Hinata lowered her head in a small bow and silently looked at the menu placed in front of her. The brunette known as Ayame looked at her features - the most prominent being the light blush on her face - and smiled. Hinata caught her smile and lowered her head again, her blush growing slightly.

" _She's shy, but she's sweet on Naruto. That baka."_ the brown-haired waitress thought.

"I'll have two bowls of chashu ramen." he said to Ayame. The blond turned to Hinata. "I'm gonna pay for whatever you want, Hinata-chan. Feel free to order whatever."

"Y-You don't have t-to do that, Naruto-kun." she responded.

"Nonsense. I want to. It feels nice having ramen with a friend, as I said."

"Alright." she said, resigning to accepting his offer to not sound rude. "I'll also have a chashu ramen."

She did not really care for pork, but she just wanted to try what Naruto was having. Ayame put away her notepad after hearing the orders and walked to the room behind the kitchen. The brunette called out to her father, Teuchi, so that they could get the orders cooking. He and Ayame came out holding some dough, presumably to create some fresh ramen noodles. Teuchi made sure to greet his favorite customer and make small talk with the young Hyuuga that he had bought with him.

"This is nice." Naruto said so that only Hinata could hear. "I'm hoping we can keep doing this." he continued, not knowing the effect his words would have on Hinata.

The girl's face expanded into one of surprise, and her head looked similar to a tomato with hair on it, but she managed to keep her consciousness under control. She was enjoying herself way too much for it to end now. Nevertheless, the chaos that was taking place in her mind right now seemed almost intent on making her pass out. Apparently, she had been mulling over his words for quite a while, as the ramen she ordered was placed in front of her.

Naruto grinned at her, shutting her down again.

" _I can't even look at him!?"_ the Hyuuga heiress thought, frustrated with herself. " _Let's try making conversation."_

"S-So, Naruto-kun. What d-did you do today?" she asked.

He finished slurping his noodles and sighed.

"Well, I found out that I am from an extinct clan because they were masters of feared techniques...But I don't know anything about them or if they had any kind of techniques that would get them destroyed." he said with a thoughtful expression.

"Really? That's amazing, Naruto-kun!" she said, completely comfortable with the conversation.

"Have we learned anything about the Uzumaki in Academy? I haven't really paid attention." he sheepishly said as he ate.

"I-I'm afraid not, Naruto-kun."

"I guess another trip to the library is in order..." he said, concluding with a sigh.

Hinata took a sip of ramen broth, realizing how delicious it was.

"I'll help you, if you want." she said absent-mindedly. After a few seconds of silence, she realized what she had said and looked up from her food. Teuchi and Ayame were smiling and Naruto was shocked. After all, only Iruka had ever wanted to hang out with him before.

"Awesome! I'll have an extra bowl to celebrate, old man!" he said after recovering.

Hinata, meanwhile, buried her face into her bowl of ramen and continued eating silently, hoping to hide her blush with her hair as she wondered what came over her.

Naruto received and finished his second bowl by the time she finished her first one. He paid for both of their meals and hopped off the bar stool, waving to Ayame and Teuchi with Hinata in tow.

* * *

Naruto decided to take Hinata to her home after dinner. She, however, noticed an immense lack of comfort when he offered - hidden somewhat poorly by a grin. Of course, the lavender-eyed girl knew the difference between his genuine grin and the fake one he hid behind now. The two decided to take the streets on their way back to the Hyuuga district. Immediately, Hinata understood the source of his displeasure; the amount of hatred felt by the villagers they passed was tangible. She, of course, did not understand why the villagers acted like this, but she did not care at the moment. Her thoughts were on the confidence that Naruto showed daily. She began to ponder about exactly how strong he must be to shoulder hatred that he didn't even understand. She decided then that it was time for her to step-up. She had already vowed to better herself, but it was time for her to take action, especially now that she was going to graduate next year. For too long she had been afraid of showing her skill due to the cruel ideologies of the Hyuuga clan. She truly did not want to become like the rest of the main branch. But she could change those with her strength too.

"Naruto-kun." she started.

Naruto turned to look at her, immediately noticing a different aura about her.

"I'll do whatever it takes to help you...with whatever you need. Be sure to come to me first, okay?" she asked him with a genuine smile and a light blush.

Naruto immediately noticed her changed attitude.

"Yeah! Okay!" he said with a smile. "How about tomorrow? I'm probably going to be training at Field 9 since it's so close to my place. we can meet there for some training and then go to the library to learn some more about...my clan."

Saying those last two words definitely felt weird to him, but it gave him a sense of pride that he had not felt before.

"Alright." she said. The verbal response may have been simple, but her mind spiraled for what she felt was, at least, the tenth time tonight. She liked just how easy it was to be confident around Naruto, and she appreciated that he was taking interest in her enough to invite her to hang out with him. That was another quality of Naruto that she enjoyed; he always went out of his way to maintain his friendships.

After the small conversation, Naruto could see the Hyuuga district within sight. Naruto suddenly stopped. The violet-haired girl looked at him curiously.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think your clan would like me very much. I've seen how some of them look at me. I don't want them to think I've hurt you or anything." he said seriously.

Hinata wanted to laugh at the prospect of Naruto hurting her, but stymied it when she realized he was being serious.

"Actually, I think it would be good if you introduced yourself to my father, Naruto-kun. At least if he knows you took me home, he'll trust you a little more." she said.

"Really?" he asked, very wary of his new friend's words.

"Just make sure to address him as 'Hyuuga-sama', since he's the head of our family, and refer to me as 'Hinata-san'. I don't think it's a good idea to show him that you are that familiar with me...even though I don't mind." she said with a small blush, pressing her index fingers against each other.

Naruto hesitated with a frown, clearly not sure of her offer, but she assured him that it would be a good idea.

"Okay, Hinata-chan." he said with an accepting smile.

With that, Hinata took the lead, walking through the district with Naruto following closely behind. His nervousness was apparent, even if he wasn't in an area with a bunch of Byakugan users. Eventually, they had reached the compound where the main branch of the Hyuuga clan and some branch family servants resided. There were two guards outside of the compound that eyed Naruto with extreme bias. The cold eyes of the guards made Naruto shrink. However, Hinata clearing her throat, brought their attention to her. She grabbed Naruto's hand and walked inside without saying a word to the guards, much to their shock. Once they were inside, Hinata took note of what she had just done. Her pale eyes widened in realization of what she felt. She had felt strangely empowered by taking control of the situation. Perhaps she could get used to being a little more confident after all. In a flash, she felt a warm hand in hers. The feeling brought her to the brink of bliss as she felt the rough, but gentle grip that Naruto held her hand with. However, that feeling was cut short when a middle-aged man rounded the corner of the foyer.

He looked at Hinata, then Naruto. Neither made him react. What made his brow furrow was the sight of their hands connected.

"Hinata. It's late. Where were you?" the man asked.

Hinata let go of Naruto's hand and bowed.

"My apologies, Father. Naruto-san invited me to eat with him and I accepted his offer. He offered to bring me home and wanted to introduce himself to you." she said, raising herself from her bow, but still not looking at his eyes.

"Yes, sir. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. It is great to meet you, Hyuuga-sama." he said, mimicking Hinata's actions down to the words that he used.

Hiashi looked at him with indifference and kept silent. He knew of this boy. Indeed, he is one of the few in the village that knew of his parentage. He truly respected the late Yondaime Hokage, and would have been glad to put his son under the protection of the Hyuuga. Unfortunately, the negativity that the child drew due to his 'tenant' prevented Hiashi from truly interacting with him, lest his clan be drawn into scrutiny. He believed this friendship that he seemed to have with Hinata could really only be positive - the Fourth's son would have a friend directly connected to the Hyuuga and Hinata would perhaps learn to be more confident.

"Then, thanks are in order for you watching over my daughter, Uzumaki-san." Hiashi said with a small smile.

Naruto was not expecting a smile from this man, given how cold the guards outside seemed. However, he decided to not comment on it.

"You don't have to do that, Hyuuga-sama." the blond Uzumaki sheepishly said.

"Nonsense. I would love if you could join us for dinner tomorrow." the older Hyuuga said.

Naruto was about to respond when he felt a poke at his side, calling his attention to Hinata who was slowly nodding at him with rosy cheeks.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." he said maintaining his nervous grin.

"Father, I intend to train with Naruto tomorrow." Hinata said.

Hiashi was noticeably shocked at how forward his typically shy daughter was, and immediately rethought letting her spend so much time with Naruto. However, the confidence that she displayed when she was around him, if harnessed, was a good thing. The hardheaded Hyuuga elders would probably not appreciate the container of the Kyuubi around their clan's future leader, but he would be willing to gamble on her ability to become stronger while she was with him. After all, just by observing her body language toward him, he could tell that Hinata was attached to the young Uzumaki. Perhaps if they trained together more, he could see why Hinata was attracted to him.

He nodded in response to Hinata's comment.

"Well then, Uzumaki-san. Until then." he said, turning on his heel and continuing down the hall.

Once Hiashi was out of eyesight, Naruto sighed, relaxing his stiff body. Hinata looked at him and stifled a chuckle.

"He's not usually so kind toward unannounced guests. You handled yourself well, Naruto-kun." she said, confident in how Naruto handled speaking to her intimidating father.

"I thought I was going to die." he mumbled.

Hinata tried to hide a laugh, but failed, resulting in a chuckle that resounded in the immediate area. Naruto watched her laugh for a moment before cracking a smile of his own.

"I've never seen you laugh before. You should definitely do that more." he said, innocently. "Anyway, I should probably get out of here. See ya later, Hinata-chan."

With that, Naruto dashed away, leaving a silent pale-eyed girl with a flushed face wondering if her laughter made Naruto just a bit happier.

* * *

It did not take long for Naruto to reach his home. Finally, he could answer some of the questions that were plaguing his mind all night. After grabbing the scroll and books that he had deposited underneath a sofa cushion, he dashed up to his bedroom. He looked at the book, realizing this had been the first time he had seen the title, and was immediately interested.

"Fuinjutsu Volume 1..." he said aloud.

Putting the book aside, he looked at the scroll and opened it. In the center of the parchment, the whirlpool symbol worn on the Konoha vests could be seen. Naruto traced the symbol with his finger, trying to visualize the intent of the one who drew it. He couldn't crack it.

"What exactly is this scroll supposed to do?" he asked no one in particular.

Then he realized that he was given a book to go along with the scroll.

"Maybe the answer is in here." Naruto said as he picked up the book and turned to the first, aged page.

There, he saw an intricate seal, beautifully woven. Turning to the next page, the first words made themselves known. He found himself strangely absorbed in the intricacies of sealing, accurately mirroring the example seals in the book with his finger. He could not place exactly why he felt this way, but it simply felt right for him to know these techniques. Before he knew it, he was at the end of the book. The chapter he was on covered seals that drew themselves, such as the seals in the _Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)_. Naruto read that the catalyst for those seals was the blood of the contracted summoner. Immediately he looked at the scroll. Then he grabbed the book on Uzushiogakure and noticed the same spiral symbol on the spine. He continued reading, deciding to finish the Fuinjutsu book before doing anything else. The last section was on notable individuals that used Fuinjutsu. He came across the fact that the Uzumaki were renowned Fuinjutsu users, making the reason for his comfort somewhat clear. He was also informed that the Uzumaki were gifted with incredible life spans, vitality and penmanship.

Almost immediately, he bit his finger to draw blood and traced the symbol on the scroll exactly. The symbol grew bright blue before starting to spin rapidly. Smoke exploded from the scroll, as if a _Kage Bunshin_ was being called. Naruto coughed and waved away the smoke in an attempt to see what had happened. He was shocked to find more books, but these looked more aged. Some of them were clearly damaged. However, the one on top was in perfect condition. It was also the largest.

" _Uzumaki Fuin_..." he whispered.

Looking outside his window, Naruto noticed it was pitch black. He decided that it would be best if he got some sleep to be ready for his training with Hinata. The blond put the books on the side of his bed, and got comfortable. He did not have the energy to change into night clothes, and so, he closed his eyes and let sleep take him after his eventful day.

* * *

As the warm sun rose, Hinata put the finishing touches on some food that she was preparing. Hinata made sure to sleep early just so that she could wake up at dawn. Her excitement caused her to get up an hour or so earlier. The reason for her plan was to make lunches for herself and Naruto. If he enjoyed her cooking, then maybe he would want to have more of it and she could use that as an excuse to invite him over. After preparing the lunches, she walked out of the kitchen of the compound. The kind Hyuuga noticed that some of the branch-family were up and about beginning their duties for the day. She bowed to the branch-family members that she passed. However, the last one that she ran into did not seem happy at all to see the future heir.

"Hinata-sama." the brown-haired boy said without emotion.

"H-Hello Neji-niisan." Hinata said, looking away from his piercing stare. She recognized that her stammering returned with a vengeance and understood that her confidence still needed work. What bothered her the most though was the disgust emanating off her cousin. It was similar to the disappointment that she felt by the elders and her father. That made her wonder exactly why her father was so nice last night.

"Excuse me." she said as she ran past the boy who only seemed to be getting angrier as his fists clenched tighter.

When she was out of the compound, she sighed sadly. Why did her family have to be so broken? Her father was cold to everyone he didn't deem important, her sister was so competitive that her one-track mind only served to widen the gap between them, and her cousin couldn't stand being in the same place with her for too long. At least Naruto was a constant light in her life. The thought of him being her friend and training with her was intoxicating. She could only call it a dream come true. As she was daydreaming and seemingly operating on auto-pilot towards the training field, her all-seeing eyes failed to detect the fanged smile coming from one Inuzuka Kiba. The ninken trainer stared at the purple-haired girl with great interest, wondering where she was going. His companion, Akamaru, seemed to understand where he was going with his thoughts and hopped out of his arms to tail Hinata. The Inuzuka was more than happy to silently follow.

After a few minutes, Hinata found herself at her destination. Naruto was already there, which wasn't surprising to her at all, given how driven the boy was. He seemed to be practicing some kind of strangely random and aggressive form. He noticed that he had tossed his trademark orange jumpsuit jacket to the floor, meaning he had probably been practicing for a some amount of time.

"Oh. Hinata!"

He noticed her and wiped the sweat off his brow with the bottom of his shirt while walking toward her, causing her to blush at seeing his naked torso. When he was nearby, she could smell the scent of ramen and trees on him. The realization that she had been standing there and sniffing the object of her affection caused her blush to deepen.

"You're blushing again. You know, that's kind of cute." he said, honestly.

"C-c-cute?!" she said, catching herself against a tree before she passed out.

"Yeah!" he said with his conventional grin.

Hinata nodded in approval at Naruto's well-thought out plan.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I was reading a book last night and it showed this form, _Hagaude (Steel Arm)_ , which the Uzumaki were taught, so I was just practicing." he said. He sat down and invited her to sit next to him.

"It looks like my clan was a major one. So big that it was destroyed in the last ninja war for how good it was at fuinjutsu. Awesome, huh?" he said with a laugh. "Some of the books and scrolls must have ended up here in Konoha since Uzushio had a good relationship with Konoha. I'm thinking about reading them to get used to some fuinjutsu techniques. I figured that it was my birthright, you know?" he said with some sadness.

Hinata saw his sadness and flinched. The girl immediately wanted to give him a hug, but when he recovered, she decided against it.

"How about a spar? I'd love to see how you fight." he said with a smile.

"I-it's n-nothing special, Naruto-kun." she said humbly, pressing her fingers together, knowing fully that her fighting style was fairly unique.

"Don't be silly. Come on." he said as he began to walk over to an open area in the field. Hinata followed closely behind him, sparing a glance at the clone that was still reading a fuinjutsu book with fervor.

After they had settled on a spot and stretched, Naruto settled into a fighting stance. Hinata noticed that it was extremely open. Hinata went into her own stance and prepared for Naruto's first move, knowing that he would strike first.

He did not let her down. Naruto kicked off the hard ground. Hinata recoiled at how fast he was. He didn't show this level of speed in the academy. However, she was still able to detect his speed. The openness of his stance made it easy to counter the punch that he was preparing. Hinata stepped into his body when he got close enough and jabbed his body three times before parrying the punch he threw. Finally, she threw an elbow to knock him off balance. Naruto felt an intense pain in his chest as he was stumbling backward. Hinata jumped away from him with a worried expression, wondering if he was okay. The _Juuken (Gentle Fist)_ was a style that involved disrupting one's chakra with that of the attacker through the body's tenketsu (pressure points). However, since the chakra network of any individual is close to the organs of the body, they cause intense pain and can even be traumatic. Hinata was hoping that she didn't cause a massive problem. After a few seconds, his eyes widened with a surprised face.

"Woah! What did you do?" he asked, still somewhat in pain.

Hinata dropped her stance, recognizing that the match, although incredibly short, was probably over after that.

"Hyuuga have trained for centuries on a technique that attacks the chakra network rather than trying to damage the body externally. I used the _Juuken_ on you, which is our clan's specialty taijutsu. It's amplified by our _kekkei genkai (bloodline limit)_." she explained.

Naruto thought about it for a second.

"That's the _Byakugan (White Eye)_ , right?" Naruto asked.

Hinata was surprised that Naruto knew already. She didn't think he paid attention to that class.

"You might be thinking that there's no way I paid attention to that class..." he started, causing Hinata to blush. "I paid attention to pretty much all classes involving combat or famous shinobi though."

"I see..."

"Yeah. Anyway, I don't think I have a chance against your taijutsu style."

"I could help you out with your taijutsu if you want, Naruto-kun. We just need to find a style that suits you."

Naruto's mouth opened wide. The blond's mouth slowly formed a smile.

"It looks like I've just got the answer to that problem." Naruto said as he dropped into another fighting stance. Hinata recognized it as the stance of _Hagaude_ that Naruto was practicing earlier. Hinata trained her eyes on it, analyzing it with practiced skill. His legs were close to each other with his back foot flat on the ground and his front foot balancing on the toes. One of Naruto's palms was facing outward toward Hinata and his arm was fully stretched out. The other palm was cocked back near his ear as if he was about to throw a punch. Overall, a solid stance, but she wondered where it came from.

Hinata entered into her stance once more, but this time she charged at him. She threw a palm at his midsection once again, but this time, he parried it with his outstretched arm. Stepping into the Hyuuga, like she did earlier, he hit her stomach with the heel of his hand and then quickly followed up with a punch to the same region. Hinata grimaced due to the pain that she felt, but she knew that this was all a part of training - after all, it's better to hurt in training than in a fatal battle. She recovered with a start and, using two fingers, jabbed at his outstretched arm near the shoulder. His arm immediately dropped. Naruto stared at his arm in disbelief; despite his attempts, he could not move it. When his eyes dropped to his arm, Hinata saw an opening and repeatedly jabbed at his legs and arms. Within seconds, the Uzumaki felt as if his muscles had been weighed down by several tons.

"Woah..." he began. "I can't move..."

Hinata's tried to catch her breath, finding the task very hard with how much she had exerted herself.

"I can't fight anymore." she said.

Naruto smiled in response.

"That's alright. We can do some exercise while we rest from the spar...Now I just need to figure out how to move..." he said to himself.

Hinata put her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing and her crush's antics. The pale-eyed girl stood still and made a hand-seal.

"Byakugan!" she cried, as she felt the chakra pumping to her eyes.

"That is probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen, Hinata-chan." he said with an slightly open mouth.

"Eep!" she cried in response to his praise. "I-I-I-..."

Hinata tried to respond but did not know how to take her blond friend's compliments in stride. She decided to not respond at all and, instead, walked up to Naruto and tapped him in the same places that she struck him in their spar. She noted that she had missed some tenketsu; she would have to work on using her _Juuken_ without her Byakugan. After she was done, she deactivated her kekkei genkai and stared at Naruto's face with her usual blush. The whiskered boy blinked a few times and suddenly felt his arms respond to his desires, despite some soreness.

"I'm going to have to come up with a way to fight Hyuuga." he said with a smile. "You're really strong, Hinata. Thanks for training with me."

The purple-haired girl was momentarily floored. After hearing that she was cute, cool and strong from her favorite person, she felt an unfamiliar lightness take over her body. She found herself wondering if this was what euphoria felt like. As she fell backwards, Naruto caught her by her shoulders. Noticing that her legs weren't rigid, he lowered her down to the ground softly, but kept his grip on her shoulders. Naruto had no idea what just happened, and was extremely worried about his new friend. However, he paused and stared at her. The smoothness of her hair and how it framed her face interested Naruto greatly. He, however, had no idea why. It was when her eyes opened that he understood; her face - from her hair to her flushed cheeks was beautiful. Naruto felt himself staring at her awakening from her fainting spell and saw her face slowly flush further.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" he asked with a small blush of his own.

She nodded rapidly without saying anything. He helped her stand up on her own two feet. She looked down at the floor and linked her fingers behind her back nervously. Naruto could not take his eyes off her behavior, finding it both interesting and appealing to him.

" _She's the first person my age that has actually cared enough to train and eat ramen with me."_ he thought. " _Even someone as important as her would spend time on me. She is one of the people that I'll fight for."_ Naruto determined resolutely.

"Naruto-kun?" she asked nervously, wondering why he seemed to be staring a hole into her face. His mouth slowly turned into a foxy grin.

"Hey, let's continue training. I need to work on my fuinjutsu and taijutsu. I can help you out with your stamina." he said.

"H-Hai!" Hinata said, regaining her composure.

* * *

The two ran off deeper into the training field. Their disappearance did not go unnoticed though. The Inuzuka that had been tracking Hinata could not believe what he had seen. The dead-last in their class hanging out with Hinata?

" _Why does she like him anyway?_ " Kiba asked himself.

Akamaru barked impatiently.

"Alright, boy. You win. Let's go get some dinner." he said with a toothy smile. However, despite his jovial behavior, his thoughts were plagued with anger, disappointment and jealousy.

~CHAPTER END~


	2. Growth

**A/N:** Glad you guys liked my story enough to give it so many views. Right now, I would like to get some of the reviews I've seen answered.

First and foremost, no Naruto will not be overpowered. Personally, I don't like that style of story. No person gets that good in months. He's just not going to be underpowered and underestimated.

Thanks to **WesDunne.** I am actually a fan of yours, so I appreciated this review, and I hear you. I'm actually trying to find the balance between descriptive enough and too descriptive. On that note, if anyone is interested in being my beta, just let me know through P.M. (I'm new to having a beta, so bear with me if you do decide to be mine).

And for those that think this will turn out in a jealousy struggle, trust me, that won't happen. You'll see what I do with that in a bit.

So, without further ado, enjoy Chapter 2: Growth.

* * *

As the sun rose to its peak and the heat rose, a blond boy and his violet-haired companion could be seen catching their breath near a tree. The two had decided to discuss what each other could work on.

"You're really tough. We'll work on your stamina so that you can last longer in a fight and stay strong." Naruto said.

Hinata nodded and was about to respond before an interruptive sound penetrated the air. She turned her shocked gaze towards Naruto, who was holding his stomach and rubbing it. Immediately, she knew that he was hungry. Finally, it was time for her plan to start.

"...Sorry. I guess it is lunch time. Want to grab a bite and then hit the library?" he asked.

"Okay, Naruto-kun. I actually made lunch for us." she said.

"Really?!" he said with excitement. For a boy that lived on his own without many friends, finding people willing to cook for him was rare. His appreciation came through clearly.

Hinata just smiled and removed a scroll. She opened it and revealed a small seal.

"Hey...this is a storage seal. I assume they taught this at the academy too?" he asked.

Hinata gave a small smile before nodding. She placed her hand on the seal and pumped some chakra onto it. Within seconds, smoke bursted from the scroll, summoning two rectangular boxes. The shy girl handed Naruto one with a pair of chopsticks. She did not want to start eating hers yet, as she felt nauseous; she wanted to know if Naruto would like her food and the wait was making her nervous.

Meanwhile, Naruto was admiring the craftsmanship of the boxed lunch that his new friend provided him. She had made him rice, a few slices of fish and some cabbage - a filling meal, high in protein. Without hesitation, he dug in. Hinata felt a smile grow on her face as Naruto continued without stopping. She decided that he liked it enough for her to begin eating.

"Man this is good!" he said with his mouth full.

"Does it beat ramen?" she asked jokingly, knowing that she was probably not that good at cooking yet.

Naruto stopped eating and appeared pensive. The silence stopped Hinata from taking her first bite. She turned her attention to him. The boy appeared to be having an internal crisis from how furrowed his brows were.

" _W-Wait...is my food able to compete with ramen?_ " she asked herself.

"I want to have more of your cooking and, if I have more of your food, I don't think I'll need to go to Ichiraku's as often as I do..." he said, folding his arms and nodding in confirmation.

"You w-want me to cook for you? I'll be happy to!" she said excitedly.

"Great!" he said, as he put his chopsticks down onto an empty lunchbox. "That was tasty..."

Hinata's eyes widened as she noticed that Naruto had finished the entire bento in less than a minute.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine. Why?" he inquired.

She could have told him, but the fact that he did not seem to have anything wrong with him made her believe that he was okay. She shook her head and continued to eat her own meal. Naruto pulled out another book while she continued to eat. The pale-eyed girl stole glances towards Naruto, appreciating the sun's effect on his skin, making his already bright appearance even more scintillating. Truly, he seemed like a personification of brightness itself. She mentally thanked whoever was responsible for bringing them together, as she finished the last morsels of her own bento box. She took Naruto's box and her own and resealed them in the scroll they were in originally. He placed a bookmark on his page and put the book in his pocket.

"You ready to go to the library?" he asked. She nodded in response. The two rose from their seated positions and began to walk away from the training field. The afternoon was still young and there would be plenty of time to search for new books. That should also give Naruto a reason to speak to the man that gave him the books.

The two found themselves chatting on the way to the library about various subjects, from pranks that Naruto had performed to how Hinata's family governs themselves between their branched families. The latter topic in particular made Naruto upset.

"How in the world can an entire group of people, from the same clan, agree with making another group servants?" Naruto asked.

Hinata lowered her head, knowing that it was exactly as bad as it sounded.

"I don't know, but I believe I'm one of the few that agree with you. There's clearly nothing good that can possibly come from that." she said. "I want to be a clan head that respects the entirety of the clan as equally valuable."

Naruto nodded.

"You're a good person. The world needs more people like you." he said.

Hinata lightly blushed at his surprisingly mature comment, folding both her hands in front of her in a poor attempt to draw attention away from the small smile on her face.

"Looks like we're here." the blond said as he pointed to the large building at the end of the road. "I wonder if that old man is here."

"That old man has been behind you for some time, young man."

Naruto jumped away in surprise at the voice suddenly making itself known. Since he wasn't paying attention to his landing, the heel of his sandals caught a stone in the dirt road and sent him rolling backwards. His momentum finally ceased when he hit the side wall of the library.

Hinata's mouth widened. How did so many offending events happen in a matter of seconds?

The old man that Naruto had met the day before, however, chuckled. His soft laughter roused Naruto from his daze.

"Hey! Don't sneak up on people like that!" he screamed – his hot-headedness shone through clearly.

Clearly enough for another civilian to hear, in fact. But before that man could retort, the old man sent him a glare that promised a swift end, should he step out of line. Hinata noticed this, and her own eyes focused on this man closely. Exactly who was this person?

"My apologies, young Naruto." he said, after Naruto had returned to his original spot, not noticing the altercation between this older man and a now subdued civilian.

"It's fine. I've been wanting to thank you for giving me those books. I really appreciate that you let me know that I had a heritage after all." he said.

"Nonsense, don't thank me. It was only right. But I assume that that is not the only reason that you wanted to see me." he said.

Naruto nodded.

"Before we talk, may I ask who this young Hyuuga you have brought with you is?"

Hinata gasped, completely forgetting her manners in the light of the previous resolved conflict.

"I am Hyuuga Hinata. It is a pleasure." she said, bowing toward the older man.

"Ahh…the heiress-to-be." he said. "The pleasure is mine. Of course, any friend of Naruto's is welcome."

Naruto smiled at the old man's obvious familiarity with him, but then his lack of knowledge about this tan-skinned old man hit him.

"Ah…there it is. You wish to know who I am." the old man responded to Naruto's gaze. "All in due time. Come inside."

The man walked past the two future ninja. While the white yukata that the old man wore did not strike Hinata as odd, the spiral symbol on the back of it struck Naruto immediately. With that observation, he ran to catch up to the man; Hinata followed shortly after.

The group reached a desk in the library, untouched by the blazing sunlight, but just light enough to see each other. The old man had left to procure some tea for the two children, leaving Hinata and Naruto to their devices.

"This library is rather large." she said. "I wonder if there are any documents on Hyuuga techniques in here…Probably not, though."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." said the old man, appearing from one of the aisles behind the two. "Sure, there are documents of Hyuuga techniques held exclusively at your home, but there are also texts open to the public of Konoha."

Placing the small tea set down.

"And don't forget, that there are many types of taijutsu. You might find something useful to amplify your _Juken_."

Hinata nodded.

"I'll go for look for some now. Excuse me." she said, getting up and leaving the two to be alone.

The elder poured a cup of tea for Naruto, urging him to drink and giving him the floor to speak first.

"Did you know any Uzumaki in the village?" the blond asked.

"You could say that. You see, I've only been a part of this village for the last two years. Before then, I had…traveled to many different lands. I have met many Uzumaki in my travels."

The old man looked at him with confusion.

"You mean you haven't figured it out?"

Naruto stared at him blankly.

The man continued, "Did you bring the scroll that I had given you yesterday?"

The blond quickly removed the paper-length scroll from his pocket and unrolled it on the table. He brought a finger up to his face when the old man stopped him.

"Allow me." he said.

The man slammed his hand on the scroll, causing the same spinning effect that Naruto had seen when he placed a small amount of his blood onto it. The man slammed his hand on the scroll, causing the same spinning effect that Naruto had seen when he placed a small amount of his blood onto it. It did not produce smoke, since the items had been summoned already, but Naruto got the point.

…Or did he? The blond looked at the seal spin and then stop.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

The old-man felt sweat drop on his face.

"Perhaps an introduction was in order first. I am Uzumaki Houji." he said with a smile.

Naruto nearly fell out of his chair trying to scramble forward to scan the man for any traces of lying.

"You're serious…" he said, not knowing what to feel. He slumped onto his chair, simply defeated by the realization that in a matter of two days, he had gained both a friend and a family member.

The old man chuckled, and pulled out another scroll with a whirlpool symbol on it.

"As sure as this symbol, my boy." he said. "I noticed that you were about to activate the scroll that I had given you with your blood. Were you aware that chakra exists in your blood, as well? Anyway, you don't have to do that. That's more useful for high-level Uzumaki fuinjutsu. This is a simple storage scroll, used by practically anybody. However, these scrolls, in particular, have a lock."

Naruto was still in deep-thought about how he had just met a member of his clan that had most likely seen the destruction of the village of their ancestors. But he did catch the last bit.

"That's what you did when you slammed your hand on the scroll…." Naruto said, finally realizing exactly what was going on.

"Right…these seals were created by me a long time ago in order to seal the personal library of my sensei, along with some heirlooms of Uzushio." he said.

Just then, the third-member of the party returned from her voyage.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted, completely forgetting where he was.

"N-Naruto-kun, please talk less loudly. You might disturb whoever is reading here if you're too loud." she politely stated.

"I can't help it! Listen, this guy is an Uzumaki, just like me!" he said, practically shaking at the fact.

Hinata found herself with a similar shocked expression to Naruto's earlier, but processed the information much faster and recovered. Hinata's face brightened at seeing Naruto's happiness clearly on his face.

"That's incredible…" she said softly. Turning to him, she continued, "How long have you been in Konoha?"

"I have been among your village for two years, young one. But more about me later, I realize that there will be things that we will discuss shortly. What you two see here is a locked storage scroll that can only be unlocked by an Uzumaki's signature." he said, pointing to the center of the scroll. "Just like complex storage seals, mind you, in which a pattern is drawn to create different locks."

Naruto reached his hand out to unlock this seal. But, his hand bounced off what felt like a hard sphere, and he could not make contact with the parchment.

"What gives?" Naruto asked with some disappointment.

The old man looked at Naruto.

"Why don't you tell me?" he asked with a small smile.

Naruto was momentarily surprised at being called out. He reasoned that he must have known the answer already. It did not take him long to figure it out.

"That's a personal storage scroll." he said.

"Correct." he said with a smile. "Watch closely."

The older Uzumaki made three hand-signs and his hand glowed a faint blue. He immediately put his hand through the invisible barrier and touched the seal, causing it to spin and unlock, sending smoke outward.

On top of the seal was a large brush and a coat.

"These are for you, young Naruto. It doesn't have any orange on it, I apologize."

Naruto stared at the items, and then back to Houji. After a short few seconds, he felt tears fall down his face. Hinata smiled, knowing that he wasn't upset. She rubbed his back to give him some needed comforting.

"I-Is this really happening?" Naruto asked. His voice cracked with every word, making his Hyuuga companion tear up as well. Houji smiled widely, immediately reminding Hinata of Naruto's own jovial smile.

"Indeed it is. But I can one-up this, easily. As you have probably read by now, Konoha and Uzushio had an incredible rrelationship with each other. Why, I believe the First Hokage of Konoha took an Uzumaki to be his wife. As a result, the Uzumaki were given a small space on the outskirts of the village. However, it is in pretty bad shape since not many Uzumaki decided to actually live here, and it has been since abandoned with the many assassins that were after the lives of our kin." he said, stroking his beard in thought. "When I arrived here, I had met with Hiruzen and told him that I wished to live among you and he offered the plot of land that I had just mentioned. Since it still needs help, I have decided to live in a small apartment in the village, but with you here, we might have the strength to clean it up and live there. We can restart the entire clan right here in Konoha!"

The old man pushed the coat and brush that were ignored on the table into Naruto, but he didn't respond.

Both Hinata and Houji looked at the blond, wondering why he did not react to the entire scenario. It turned out that he did react. Just not in the way that they wanted him to. With his form slumped over, it was clear that he was unconscious. Hinata looked at him with despair.

"Naruto-kun!" she said while shaking him, momentarily forgetting about her shyness.

"It's alright, young one. From what I understand, this boy has been treated fairly harshly due to a burden that even he doesn't seem aware of. I wanted to bring him up out of those dangerous depths and make him understand that there is no one person that is meant to be alone in this world." he said with a kind smile.

Hinata looked at this man in awe. She could not help but think about her lifestyle in the Hyuuga clan. Her father did not seem to act like a father generally should. But neither did Houji. A parent, according to her understanding, was both kind and strict. With her limited knowledge of exactly who Houji was, he only seemed to be patient and kind. The man did not look or feel like he had it in him to be strict.

"Anyway, while young Naruto is recovering, I see that you've found a book." Houji said, motioning toward the book that she held.

"Yes. Like you said, a Hyuuga author wrote this book…I wonder why it's here…" Hinata said absentmindedly.

"Most likely some policy that required clans to submit a log of their abilities for civilian perusal. That information hasn't crossed my desk while I've been the head librarian, so I suppose that rule is long outdated. "

"I found some unique things in here…Like unique stances for the _Juken_ style. I only knew of a few. Also, there were some techniques to enhance the power of palm strikes…This should be useful." she said softly.

"Then it would only be fitting that you keep that book. And, as thanks for watching over Naruto, I will occasionally look for more texts for you." he said.

Hinata flinched. Had this man known that she had been watching Naruto since he'd been roaming among the rest of the citizens of Konoha?

Nervously, she muttered a 'thanks', and, just in time, Naruto awoke – surprising for the level of mental shock he just experienced.

"What happened?" he asked with noticeable alarm on his face. He seemed panicked, but upon seeing Hinata and Houji, he calmed down, remembering where he was.

"I was just about to give you two items." Houji said, drawing attention to the brush and coat.

"This coat looks awesome!" Naruto said, grabbing it and holding it up. He decided to throw it on right now.

The item was a black trench coat that flowed to just above the floor with a stiff collar that reached his jaw. On the shoulders and the back of the jacket were a red whirlpool symbol. The design of the back, however, had the whirlpool encased in a white circle.

"We can have that tailored to your...er…" he hesitated upon looking at the orange in his wardrobe, "standards."

Naruto felt compelled to fold his arms and puff out his chest, and so he did with a large smile on his face.

"But wait…there's more…" the elder Uzumaki said with a smile that rivaled the blond's. "This brush is my gift to you. The exchange of this item signifies that you are now my student."

"You're going to teach me about _fuinjutsu_ too?! This is too much!" he said with extreme, but appropriate surprise. He took hold of the brush, immediately feeling its weight. This thing was dense. The wooden item appeared to be about 3 feet in length with a wax finish. The bottom and the top of the item had the now familiar Uzumaki symbol on them. The bristles of the brush were long and thin, which would make it easy to clean.

"That kind of tool is the Uzumaki pride and joy." Houji said with a smile. "The brush doesn't require that you add ink to it. Rather, this wood contains properties that will convert your chakra into an ink-like substance. That said, it doesn't really matter what you draw your seal with, so long as the penmanship is proper. Also, if you check the top, you'll see a hook for a smaller, pen-sized brush. Just in case you wanted to write on a smaller surface. It's made of the same material."

Naruto held the brush up in front of the open window and channeled some chakra into it, causing the bristles of the brush to glow.

"You see why the Uzumaki loved this item? With our incredible chakra reserves, an item like this allows us not only to make seals while we fight, but also allows us to fight an incredibly long time. As such, this item was called the _Uzumaki no Jinsei (Life's Spiral)_."

"Wooooow" Naruto said as his eyes seemed to twinkle at the Uzumaki brush.

As he stared at the brush, Houji looked at the sun beginning to fall.

"It looks like afternoon is about to hit. Perhaps you should pack up your belongings, Naruto. You'll be living with me after I get the authorization from Lord Third." he said.

Naruto nodded rapidly, and reached into pouch and pulled out an empty scroll. He grabbed the small hook on the top of the brush and yanked it upward, releasing a smaller brush into his fingers. He channeled his chakra into it and began drawing the symbols for a complex storage scroll. His purple-haired companion watched with awe, noticing just how fast he was drawing the intricate symbols.

"Naruto-kun, h-how do you remember all of those symbols?"

Naruto stopped and looked at her with a neutral face.

"I'unno." he said with a laugh and continued drawing. "I just read about them last night and it made sense to me. Maybe my clan just has an affinity for designing seals?"

Naruto looked up to Houji, who was nodding at his statement. The blond looked down with a smile and completed his storage seal. The ink was the same color as his chakra – blue – and it slowly became black, as if the chakra had burned itself onto the parchment. He took off his jacket, inserted the smaller brush into the handle of the larger one and placed the items onto the storage scroll.

Making two hand-signs, he dispelled the items into the scroll with ease.

"Fuinjutsu is so cool…" he said, putting the filled storage scroll into his pocket.

"Hold on a moment." Houji said. "Take that scroll back out. I should teach you how to dispel scrolls for future summoning."

Naruto looked at him with some confusion.

"Surely you can't believe that Uzumaki carried hundreds of scrolls around on their persons. That wouldn't make much sense."

Houji executed a ram, a monkey and a serpent sign to focus his chakra and held his hands in position.

"Much like the summoning seal, this seal will require you to slam your hand onto a surface. But the signature to Uzumaki specific seals are that most of them are one-handed. As such, you will have to learn an entirely new system of hand-signs. But we will get to that at a later time. Now, mimic my signs and focus your chakra."

Naruto nodded and did so quickly.

"Finally, perform this hand sign." Houji said, fully extending his arm and pointing three of his fingers out toward Naruto, tucking his pinky and thumb into his hand. His three fingers glowed blue. The elder jabbed his fingers into the table, much to the shock of Naruto and Hinata, as they had seemingly phased through. A seal began to draw itself, with his hand as the center. Within seconds, Naruto noticed the familiar whirlpool symbol in the center of a complex seal that had been woven out of the old man's chakra. There were several open circles and some black ones on the outer layer of the small seal.

"You can imagine that the amount of chakra that you put in equates to exactly how big this seal is. The genius of our clan shines through here. You see, your chakra acts as a key, but the _amount_ you add is _another_ key. If you add a greater amount, the items that you put in at a lower amount do not show, and instead, these empty circles appear. The dark ones…" he paused as he stuck his fingers into the dark circle and pulled out a scroll. "…They contain your items. Like an infinite backpack of sorts."

" _Aranami (Raging Wave)."_ Naruto said in awe.

"I see you've already read the book that contained this trick. Why don't you give it a try?" Houji said as his fingers turned to their normal tan hue.

Naruto almost forgot that he was channeling his own chakra in preparation. Mimicking the action of Houji in sticking his three fingers out, he waited for the blue glow of chakra to encompass his fingers as well. When it did, he jabbed his hand through the table.

"Good!" Houji said.

"This is so awesome!" Naruto shouted.

Hinata seemed too mystified to even monitor his voice. She looked under the table to see that his hand did not appear on the other side.

The blond had seen that only two circles had shown themselves. Perhaps, he thought, he had added too little chakra to the system.

"You may be thinking…" Houji said with his eyes closed and a hand on his chin. "'Why are there only two circles drawn here?'"

Houji pointed to them.

"Remember what I said about the amount of chakra. The amount you added here is what you will need to add every time to get those two circles to appear again. The reason why there are only two is due to the proportion of chakra that you had used. You must have barely used any." Houji concluded.

Naruto nodded, absorbing everything that was being said. The younger Uzumaki then removed his hand from the center and placed the scroll with his valuables in it on one of the two circles. He then cut off his chakra flow, dispelling the seal and the scroll at the same time.

Hinata cut in after seeing that.

"I noticed that the hand you use to create the seal is coated with chakra for the entire time. I assume that that is necessary for the seal to remain active, right?" she asked.

Houji nodded.

"Exactly. This seal is fed a constant stream of chakra, much like your _dojutsu_ ( _eye technique)._ The reason why the Uzumaki are some of the only ones that can use this must then be clear. One-handed seals take more than twice the chakra that two-handed seals do. Not only that, you must place sufficient chakra into the seal in order to generate the storage. But, do you feel exhausted, Naruto?" Houji asked.

"No, not at all." he said with widened eyes.

"And this sort of formula is used for every Uzumaki Fuinjutsu – immense chakra usage per seal. Well, immense for anyone other than an Uzumaki. It is not that these techniques are exclusive to Uzumaki like a _kekkei genkai,_ it is that we are the only ones that these techniques will not kill upon use."

Hinata nodded and Naruto seemed to be bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Jutsu that only we can use! That's awesome!" Naruto shouted.

A collective silencing hush was heard from many corners of the library, making the blond quiet down substantially. But suddenly, he looked up in shock.

Hinata looked at his face and noticed that he began growing pale.

"I completely forgot about the dinner I'm supposed to have with your dad, Hinata-chan. What am I going to do? I don't have anything to wear." Naruto said, now visibly shaking.

Hinata stifled a laugh at his reaction, despite the fact that he was right to worry about that kind of thing. The Hyuuga did hold social standing to a high degree. But her father must have been aware that Naruto didn't have any family. Until now that is.

"You have a meeting with the Hyuuga head, eh?" he asked. "Come with me, we will go to my house. I believe I have a kimono you can wear. Thankfully, you shrink when you get older. Hoho!" he joked.

Naruto's expression brightened immediately.

"Hou-jiji, you're the best!" he said.

"I like that nickname, Naruto. I think I'll take it." he said with a smile, getting up from his chair and walking away.

The children followed him through and out of the library. While they were walking with the old-man, the glares from the villagers became even more apparent. As the hatred grew, Naruto's mood fell, and both Hinata and Houji noticed it. The young Hyuuga thought about what Houji had told her. Naruto had been carrying ' _a large burden'_. She knew immediately that that is what the villagers must not approve of. But even then, why would the burden cause hatred for the one carrying it? That just doesn't make sense. Hinata was so preoccupied with trying to figure out what exactly Naruto had been transporting that she barely noticed when Houji turned to face the door of a small house. The home was fairly far away from businesses and was in a residential area of Konoha that only had a few, if any, civilians present.

"Here we are." he said, unlocking the wooden door and entering the small, but quaint home. The kitchen was visible from the front door, just behind the living room, down the only hallway, Hinata suspected that there was a bathroom and bedroom.

"Make yourselves comfortable while I find these garments."

Houji retreated down the hallway, leaving Hinata and Naruto to find a seat on the couch. Naruto extended his arms on the back of the couch, closing his eyes and smiling at the amount of fortune that he had come across recently. Meanwhile, Hinata felt her heart beating rapidly. The couch wasn't very large. In fact, the couch only fit those two. Naruto's arm was nearly around Hinata's shoulders, which made her head spin. He was that comfortable with her? Maybe she did have a chance with him after all. Perhaps she should tell him how she felt about him eventually…Wait, why eventually? Why not now?

Hinata breathed in and out repeatedly with her eyes fully widened. Naruto's own eyes opened at the sound of Hinata's breathing and he started at her.

"Hinata, you okay?" he asked.

"I'm o-okay, b-but I h-have s-something to tell you." she said, fully aware that her stutter had returned with a vengeance.

"Shoot." he said with a smile.

His beaming expression jarred her mind into an unfamiliar state, causing her to smile too. She had all of the power that she needed to speak her mind.

"I like you, Naruto-kun." she said with a red face.

Naruto continued to smile.

"I like you too, Hinata-chan."

She did not fight the darkness that consumed her for the second time that day.

Naruto stared at the unconscious Hyuuga that appeared to have steam coming off her.

" _Maybe she should take off that jacket…"_ he thought to himself, not dwelling on telling his friend that he appreciated her and completely missing the meaning of her confession.

Houji walked out into the living room, sighing and appearing exasperated. He had heard everything, including Naruto's casual response to his friend's confession, and couldn't believe that this boy could be so stupid. Maybe it would be harder teaching him than he originally thought.

"I have found a nice outfit. Try it. We might have to modify it a little. Fortunately, I know how some basic tailoring tricks."

Naruto got up and put on the black kimono, appreciating how the material was still breathable, but no less formal. There were no patterns on this kimono, however, the symbol of the Uzumaki made itself known on the shoulders and the back of the garb. His forearms peeked out of the sleeves properly, but the garment bunched up at the legs, as predicted.

"Alright. Stay there, I will grab some thread and a needle." Houji said, moving quickly through his house to find the objects needed.

A few minutes later, the elder Uzumaki returned with a footstool and his tailoring tools. He asked Naruto to stand on the footstool as he sat down on the couch in front of it. When Naruto did as he asked, he began to hem the bottom of the kimono. It only took a few minutes, but once he was done, Naruto stepped off the footstool and had a properly fitting kimono.

"Great. Now you're ready. Remember your manners. Don't speak unless spoken to; people like Hyuuga Hiashi appreciate that. And eat slowly."

"That sounds simpler than I thought it'd be. Is it really that easy?"

"Yep." Houji responded simply. "Perhaps you should wake up your friend and head there early. I'm sure he would appreciate your punctuality, and would want to talk to you before dinner actually begins."

"Okay!" Naruto said with a wide smile.

Houji smiled when noticing that Naruto seemed to be taking to him very well. He wagered that it was due to Naruto's lack of family or friends for so many years.

Naruto raised two fingers and squeezed Hinata's nostrils shut, chuckling to himself while Houji gently applied a palm to his face. This boy had no tact at all when handling young women. He would have much to teach him. Nevertheless, his strategy worked, as Hinata jolted upward, breathing deeply in response to her lungs being denied the necessary oxygen.

"Hey, Hinata-chan. Let's go." he said, extending a hand toward her. She looked at his hand and immediately the events before her falling into unconsciousness. Her blush magnified slowly, realizing that perhaps this was the next step to their relationship. She took his hand nervously and stood up, taking in how handsome Naruto was when he had something on other than his classic orange clothing.

"Alright you two, it's about time that you get a move on. Don't be shaken by the Hyuuga. They play a lot of psychological warfare. I'm sure that young Hinata can tell you. Naruto, when you are finished with your dinner, pack your things and come to this place. We will probably be pretty busy tomorrow. I had the lumber delivered to the area, since some important building will need repair, and I will have to teach you a few things." he said.

"Okay!" Naruto said, grabbing Hinata's hand and running out of the house excitedly."

The elder Uzumaki watched the two go with a small smile, enjoying the sight of the youth simply being young.

" _So this is what my sensei saw in me._ " he thought. With that business accomplished, he found himself seated on his couch, taking a small break before preparing himself for the coming days.

* * *

The eyes of the Hyuuga put Naruto off, and probably would always put him off. The guard presence that surrounded the district that the Hyuuga resided in seemed amplified today, signifying the no-nonsense culture that the clan resided within. Hinata looked forward and furrowed her brow at the unnecessary behavior that everyone was displaying and squeezed her crush's hand to let him know to not be afraid. She did not feel the need to let go of Naruto's hand this time, openly defying what her father may have thought about it . This time, she took the lead, quickly leading him to the main house, where only the Main Family and some Branch Family servants lived. The two discarded their shoes at the door and made their way toward the dining room.

Upon arriving, Hinata noticed that the rectangular table had already been set for 6. A clock on the wall gave her an indication of the two being here early. Hinata pointed out where Naruto should sit and sat down at the right of the head-of the table. Naruto sat right next to her in the same fashion that she did. His balance was fine, but he could not help but feel like his lower back was going to be killing him in the next morning. The heiress explained that sitting next to the heir of the Hyuuga was meant to show trust towards the guest. Naruto nodded, his expression turning completely serious. A second after Hinata noticed his expression, her father entered the dining room. He sat at the head of the table and kept his eyes closed. Naruto appeared to be relaxed, but inside, he was extremely nervous. Being trapped in a room with one that commands so much respect made him want to cower under the tatami mats that lined the floor. But he remembered some words the words that Houji shared with him about the Hyuuga's tactics to scare people, and felt his confidence growing by the second.

"Hinata, how was training today?" Hiashi asked, turning his head completely to look at her.

"It is going well, father. I have decided to train more with Uzumaki-san in order to increase my skills." she said, sounding noticeably colder. Naruto wondered if that was just something that the Hyuuga did, but he couldn't see how a family atmosphere could be maintained with that kind of behavior.

"And I will allow it, on one condition." he said, looking toward Naruto.

"I would like for Uzumaki-san to spar you a month from today in order to see exactly how far you've come. Be aware that your own training with us will not end. There is still much about this clan that you must learn before you graduate."

"Hai, Hiashi-sama." Hinata said.

Naruto remained silent, not minding the conditions at all. He instead wondered what he was getting at with this. But before he could inquire, a small girl with hair of the same shade as Hiashi's entered the dining room and took her seat opposite to Hinata. She looked at Naruto with curiosity, not knowing who he seemed to be. He took the cue to introduce himself. He felt that his normal behavior may be considered overbearing in this space and decided to experiment and see which approach would be the most appropriate in the eyes of the Hyuuga.

"Hello." he began calmly. "We haven't met before. I'm Uzumaki Naruto." he said with a small bow of the head. Hiashi felt his face twitch between his neutral expression and one of surprise, but quickly got himself under control. It was simply too hard to believe that the boy he saw yesterday and this one could be so different.

"Hyuuga Hanabi. A pleasure to meet you, Uzumaki-san." she said quietly.

Two more people entered shortly after, both male with brown hair and eyes as stone-cold as Hiashi's. One of them had a hitai-ate and the other had a cloth headband around his forehead. It was the one with the hitai-ate that struck him with a feeling of curiosity. That was, naturally, due to the condescending stare that he was being given. He sat at the end of the table opposite to Hiashi, while the last Hyuuga member sat opposite to Naruto.

"You must be Uzumaki Naruto." he said. "I am Hyuuga Toru, guardian to Hyuuga Hanabi."

"Hello." Naruto responded politely, seeing that his attitude was positive.

"Hyuuga Neji."

The boy had not said anything about who he was like the other guy did. Naruto was starting to feel as if he was annoying the shinobi, but decided it didn't matter.

Conversation had begun. It had been mostly about Hyuuga politics, which Naruto found himself enraptured by.

" _So this is what a clan is like?"_ he thought. He understood that each clan must have had its own political system and that the Uzumaki would eventually need one. The arrival of food broke the conversation. Several bowls of different kinds of food was brought out by people that had cloth coverings over their heads. The blond was wondering if these were the Branch family members that Hinata was talking about. Once everyone began eating, Hiashi started conversation again the moment the last servant left.

"So…Uzumaki-san, what have you been doing with your time?" Hiashi asked, wondering exactly what the self-proclaimed troublemaker does when he is not causing officials headaches.

"I've been learning about fuinjutsu." he said, not missing a beat. "I've heard that it was a complex art, but, right now, it's pretty easy."

Hiashi furrowed his brow in contemplation. He knew very well how difficult fuinjutsu was. For this brat to call it easy…

"Care to demonstrate?" Hiashi asked.

Naruto paused and thought about it for a moment. The dinner had been going well and all he had to do was keep his mouth shut. He thought that it might have been rude to start using techniques during dinner.

"Sure!" he said, a little too loudly. "But, after dinner. I wouldn't want to waste the food that was prepared for us."

Hinata felt like beaming, but held her composure. Naruto seemed to be adapting to the Hyuuga's need to be praised for even the minutest accomplishments. Naruto, on the other hand, was just cautious and also hungry. However, it only took a few seconds of him looking around to realize that none of the Hyuuga had even reached for their chopsticks. So, he followed suit. After all, the "monkey-see-monkey-do" behavior managed to serve him well thus far.

Hiashi nodded and reached his chopsticks into several bowls, filling his plate first. He began eating, and then the rest of his family had begun to load their own plates. Naruto loaded his plate with at least double of what everyone else ate, much to the chagrin of Neji and Hanabi, who looked at him with a frown. Hinata smiled and lightly blushed at his boldness. It did not take long for him to finish either, leaving him sitting there with his hands in his sleeves thinking about what to do next. Maybe he should show Hiashi one of the Uzumaki clan's fuinjutsu. At the same time, he had not had any time to practice any of what he read. Nevertheless, he shrugged.

" _It'll probably be okay."_ he thought.

Soon, dinner had been completed, and Hiashi stood up, with the rest of the congregation following him. Naruto saw that he had led him to a courtyard with an open-roof. Hiashi had sat down on the edge of the wooden walkway that had bordered the courtyard.

"Will you need a sparring partner for your demonstration?" Hiashi asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No, I should be okay." Naruto gathered the necessary amount of chakra and performed the seal that Houji had told him about. Jabbing it into the ground. The small seal that Naruto had created before, in the library, appeared. The Hyuuga present all stared at the whirlpool symbol in the center. Hiashi in particular recognized the symbol as woven into the culture of Konoha. He also understood the history of that symbol.

" _I've never seen that seal before. Has he learned something about his family?"_ he thought.

Naruto observed that one of the circles were dark. He grabbed the scroll out of it and dispelled the seal. He then opened the scroll and made the same hand-signs that he used to dispel the items into it earlier. The coat and the brush appeared in a burst of smoke on top of it.

The blond pulled the Jinsei out of the bundle, feeling at ease.

"You certainly have a natural grasp of fuinjutsu." Toru said, voicing what everyone was thinking.

"Thanks! I've been hearing that a lot today."

The boy channeled his chakra into the brush and drew a circle around himself, pausing after he had done just that. With great speed, he jumped around that circle, completing his seal in record time. He then placed his brush on the floor in the circle that he had drawn and made a few handsigns.

" _Mujuuryoku (Weightlessness)"_ he softly said.

The circle in the center of the seal seemed to continue drawing itself, finally manifesting into the familiar Uzushio symbol and glowed. The brush began to float a certain amount of meters above the ground. Naruto walked into the circle and felt himself being carried upwards too.

"Wooo!" he cheered. "It worked!"

The Hyuuga present all stood shocked that this boy had managed to begin floating out of nowhere. Naruto managed to find himself in a sitting position, holding his brush on his lap as he grinned wildly at everyone. Neji found it difficult to maintain composure. His mind was spiraling by the fact that the ninja arts were so immense that levitation was possible. Hinata, on the other hand, felt the need to train more so that she could be as awesome as Naruto.

"That's incredible." Hiashi said, not hiding his surprise at all.

Naruto cut off his chakra slowly and slowly descended. When he landed, he placed his brush on the storage scroll and put it in his pocket.

"Good job, Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a smile on her face.

Hiashi stared at her and noted her growing blush, understanding that she was infatuated with her new friend. The Hyuuga head could not help but wonder how that happened. As far as he knew, Hinata had not had a large amount of contact with him before yesterday. But then again, they were classmates. He would have to keep tabs on this boy. If he continued growing at this rate, he would undoubtedly become extremely powerful.

"I see no reason as to why you should not continue training with him, Hinata. Thank you for joining us for dinner and for that demonstration of your fuinjutsu. Good night, Uzumaki-san. Hinata, show him home." he said. Hiashi stood up and walked away, with Neji, Hanabi and Toru following. Naruto put his hands on his hips and chuckled.

"I think I did pretty well." Naruto said.

"B-Better than well. You did amazingly. I honestly was not expecting that you would handle the situation that well. But you were patient and paid attention to what was going on." Hinata said with glee. "I wonder what happened to bring this change. No offense, but you seemed a lot more excitable and reckless before."

Naruto seemed to have a far-away gaze, as he stared into the darkening sky.

"Being a shinobi means that you could see your friends die. I'd rather get stronger to protect them over protecting people that don't care about me. They'll respect me eventually anyway." the blond said. "To be honest, I had been slacking off in classes and not really showing what I could do in the academy just so people would notice me, even if they did for the wrong reasons. But now I have you and Hou-jiji. And Iruka-sensei and Jiji is still on my side too. I've got plenty of people that care about me. I don't need to act like someone I'm not anymore."

To say that Hinata was shocked was understating her current emotion. She couldn't help but run up to her crush and hug him tightly. With her confidence surging as it had the night before, she leaned up and kissed him on his cheek. Naruto felt his face heat up proportionally with the realization of what she had done. She let go of him and looked into his eyes as the moon fell and darkened her form.

"I won't let you down, Naruto-kun." she said with noticeable determination, letting her grip of him loosen. "Can you wait here for a second?" she asked. Naruto nodded dumbly, which seemed to be acceptable enough for her to leave. As she ran in the direction that her family disappeared toward, her silhouette was burned into Naruto's mind while he tried to comprehend what had just happened. The blush gracing his countenance slowly faded with the smile that appeared shortly after.

The blond turned on his heel with noticeable energy and pulled his scroll out of his kimono pocket in order to seal it. Once that was done, he heard footsteps coming toward him.

"Allow me to take you home, Naruto-kun." she said with a smile.

Naruto noticed that something was off with her immediately.

"Where did your j-jacket go?" Naruto asked as he slowly scanned her body.

Hinata had removed her jacket, revealing a short-sleeved blue t-shirt that hugged her growing and trained body well. Naruto found himself extremely uncomfortable, but not in a way that would make him stay away from his friend. Peculiarly, he felt as though he wanted to get closer to her.

"It's a warm night." she said softly while pressing two of her fingers together. Deep down, though, she knew the truth as to why she wanted to change her image. She wanted to see what style Naruto reacted better towards. She could not help but feel embarrassed at the fact that such a simple change threw him completely off guard.

"Come on. L-Let's go." the pale-eyed girl said, trying to break his staring by grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the Main Family house.

Naruto silently let her guide him as he thought about what he was feeling towards his quiet friend. It wasn't just that she had become one of his precious people in a matter of days. She had become a person that he could grow alongside; someone that invested in him and held many of the same beliefs that he did. It was a nice feeling, admittedly. But something in him told him that it would not end there. She was already someone that he could trust more than Haruno Sakura, the pink-haired girl that he supposedly liked. Didn't that mean that he liked Hinata more? Wait.

" _I like you, Naruto-kun."_

He recalled what she had said a few hours ago. Although it took him that long to think about that, he realized what she might have meant and found himself blushing. But if that wasn't awkward enough, in the same thought, he remembered his own response.

" _I like you too, Hinata-chan."_

He sighed, feeling his brain start to hurt from thinking so hard.

"Naruto-kun?"

Naruto found himself looking at Hinata's eyes as she called his attention. However, he could not hold his stare for more than a few seconds. When he looked away, Hinata smiled a little, wondering if this is what she must look like. It was somewhat cute.

"We're here." she said. She hoped that he didn't ask her how she knew where his home was. "Do...Do you want some help packing?" she asked apprehensively.

"N-No, everything should be fine. It's easy for me pack with my new fuinjutsu." he chuckled.

His smile was quickly replaced with a frown. Hinata noticed that immediately and waited for him to talk.

"Hey, listen…" he began. "I feel strange when we're together…and I don't really know why, but what I said about liking you before…I think it has something to do with that…and I wanna get to know you better, Hinata-chan. I know I might not be making sense, but…"

The girl put her hand to Naruto's mouth after she understood his point and smiled at him. At first she wondered how he could possibly be feeling what took her months and months of observation to feel herself. But she quickly realized why her crush had begun crushing on her. All it took was her observation of the apartment that was appeared to be breaking down on the outside. She realized, just as nobody was taking care of this apartment, nobody was taking care of him either. After a life of living alone, hated and mocked by his peers, it is easy to understand how he became attached to the only light in the darkness. The blond didn't feel how she did. He felt something even stronger; the desperation that he must have felt to be loved must have been massive.

"I understand, Naruto-kun." she said lightly. "And I will help you with your feelings, one step at a time."

The boy slowly smiled again.

"Good. I was kinda scared that you would think that I was weird or something."

"I could never." she said loudly, restoring her faltering confidence once again. "Now come on. I will help you pack up."

She grabbed his hand and walked up the stairs to his apartment and waited for him to unlock and open his door. When he did, she silently gasped at the state of the apartment. The scars on the painted walls were undoubtedly brought about by vandalizers who wished to destroy everything Naruto owned, if not the boy himself. There were several windows near the kitchens that were knocked out, which is probably how they made their entrance. The furniture was in horrible condition; the only furniture in the room they were in was a filthy couch, which Hinata assumed was a couch that he must have found thrown out somewhere. She looked at the kitchen again and noted that the floor was dirty with significant stains on the appliances. Hinata understood that he must not have been able to afford cleaning supplies. She imagined that the bathroom must have been in a similar state. All she could do was slowly turn and look at him. She found amazement in his calm face; this was normal to him! She was so thankful that he would not be living here any longer.

"This won't take more than a few minutes."

Naruto unsealed his sealing supplies and walked over to the center of the room. The blond made the appropriate hand signs for his resourceful new storage jutsu, pumping an enormous amount of chakra into it. The seal extended to the corners of the small room, and even covered the bottom of the walls.

"I don't think we'll need to pack anything more than clothes…I just wanted to experiment with something." Naruto said as he picked up a shard of glass that was on the ground. Hinata furrowed her brow and felt her eyes widen at the fact that there was glass lying around her on the floor. Naruto walked up to one of the circles on the wall and put the glass near it.

The glass hovered over the circle before being sucked into it.

"These jutsu may take a lot of chakra, but they're so useful." Naruto said. Keeping his chakra channeled, he ran out of the living room and gathered his clothes. Hinata didn't even need her bloodline ability to feel Naruto's chakra jumping around. He really was like a battery.

He came back with only a few clothes and some ramen cups that he kept stored in his room, something that made Hinata laugh, despite the awful state of her current environment. Naruto stuck one of his orange jumpsuits onto one circle and looked at it. Hinata understood his line of thinking. Would a bigger object fit on one of the circles? To both of their surprises, the circle grew in size, pushing the various symbols around it away from their natural positions. It slowly became noticeable that the symbols were a limit of sorts.

"The symbols are wrapping around the circle, Naruto-kun. I'm guessing this particular spot is almost full, and when it is, the symbols around the spot will seal it closed." Hinata confidently said, exercising her brain towards the possibilities of the seal.

"Let's see." Naruto said as he threw a pair of pants onto that spot.

The storage unit immediately absorbed it and the symbols around the circle fully surrounded it before congregating and creating a spiral pattern that was similar to the one in the center of the seal. Naruto threw another jumpsuit onto the circle and it did not get absorbed.

"Hinata, you're a genius."

He put a chakra-coated hand through the spiral pattern and removed his attire, which shrunk the circle. Naruto cut off his chakra, dispelling the seal, and then recreated a smaller version to throw his attire into. He appreciated just how generous the seal was to the chakra he put into it. He knew his chakra control was bad, so he would never be able to put the exact amount of chakra into it each time, but even if it was close, the seal seemed to 'understand' what he was trying to do., and would accommodate to his needs.

After he had packed everything up, he took one last look at his apartment and opened his door to leave. He hit a large object, immediately and fell backwards.

"This has to stop happening…" Naruto sighed as the he rubbed his lower-back.

"Perhaps you should keep your eyes open, Naruto." said a familiar, stern voice. The blond looked up and saw the man he fought with a few days in battle.

"Iruka-sensei!" he cried, jumping up and hugging him. "You're okay!"

"Yes, Naruto, I'm fine. My spine wasn't severed, so I will be back in top shape when the wound heals." Iruka scratched his nose and noticed one of his students behind him. He smiled at seeing Naruto get along with others, particularly the purple-haired girl behind him.

"Hinata. How are you? Enjoying your break?"

Hinata jumped up.

"H-Hai." she said, hoping that she wouldn't ask why she was here.

Iruka knew how timid the girl was, so he decided to not press her further. What he did want to know was why Naruto was leaving his apartment so late at night.

"Naruto, you know it's not safe for you to be out this late." he said with his hands on his hips.

The blond looked at him inquisitively before realizing that he had yet to tell Iruka about his new discoveries. As he opened his mouth to speak, he felt his stomach growl. He paused and grinned.

"I'll tell you why over some ramen." he said.

"That's why I came. I want to tell you some things too." Iruka said.

Hinata wanted to join them, but knew that her father would get suspicious if she was out for too long at night.

"I should get going…My f-father might be worried about where I am?" she said softly. She heard a popping sound next to her and saw smoke clearing to reveal a second and third Naruto.

"These guys will take you home!" Naruto said.

She blushed at how much Naruto cared that she had a safe trip home. The clones stepped to the side and let her through.

"Good night, Iruka-sensei. Good night, Naruto-kun" she said.

The chunin nodded. "Good night, Hinata."

The trio disappeared into the night. Iruka watched Naruto stare at Hinata leave.

"I see you have a lot to tell me too…" he said with a smug smile. "Someone's in love."

Naruto blushed at that immediately.

"Q-Quit it, sensei! Let's go." he said bashfully, but forcefully.

Iruka chuckled and followed Naruto out.

"Kids will be kids." he sighed, wondering how the information that he had yet to tell Naruto would affect him.

Hinata arrived at home with only one clone, thanks to an old drunk that decided to throw his empty bottle of sake at the group. She was quite aggravated when he did, but decided to let it go when the other clone grabbed her around her waist and took to the rooftops. She was surprised at his strength, but extremely embarrassed at how freely physical he was with her, despite the obvious danger.

The clone put his hands behind his head and grinned widely.

"That was close. At least you didn't get hurt." he said.

The pale-eyed girl felt her heart beating rapidly at how she was his focus the entire time. There was a point where she believed that she was dreaming. But she wasn't thinking at all when she kissed her crush on his cheek. When the clone popped into smoke randomly, she had to hold her mouth to muffle her laughter.

At a familiar ramen shop, Naruto suddenly stopped. A blush overtook his face while the pleasing thoughts replayed themselves in his head. But he had no idea where they were coming from.

"Something wrong, Naruto? You were telling me about Hinata."

"…Yeah…" he said softly with a smile on his face.

Iruka snapped his fingers in front of Naruto's face to snap him out of his trance and he was met with no success. Being the quick thinker that he is, he moves a finger towards Naruto's bowl of ramen and was met with a pair of chopsticks blocking his way.

"Don't touch that." he said darkly.

Iruka sighed and shook his head at how predictable Naruto was.

"Listen Naruto, I'm really glad that you've found a relative and everything is going well, but we need to talk about a couple of days ago."

Naruto's mood immediately dropped, shocking Iruka with regards to how serious he became. At the same time, he was proud with how critically he was viewing the event. He cleared his throat before beginning.

"Now, what I'm going to tell you is a guarded secret. You're the only one allowed to talk to people about this, but be careful. There is a reason that talk about this has been forbidden. I believe that you have a right to know now...now that you've been exposed to it. You heard Mizuki talk about you being a demon…I have to correct him there first. You're not the demon, but you are housing one." he began.

The boy stopped eating his ramen and looked at Iruka with a combination of shock, curiosity and sadness.

"The Yondaime, who was said to have died killing the Kyuubi, couldn't kill it after all. Instead, he sealed it inside of you." he said bluntly.

Now the boy's expression had full shock on it. Iruka remained silent after that, watching Naruto realize that everything in his life was due to a monster that destroyed Konoha. Now everything made sense. The peace that he felt at finally understanding the behavior of the villagers slowly overtook him.

"Naruto, nothing will change now that you know this, which is why I told you. The villagers know this. Ninja that have survived from the attacks know this. Don't let this change you."

"I thought that I would be a lot more upset, but I'm glad that I know…Maybe I'm confident because I am learning about sealing. Perhaps, when I'm good enough at it, I could even talk to the Kyuubi myself and hear more about why he did what he did. I won't let this change me."

"Naruto…" Iruka said with noticeable amazement at how he handled the situation. "If you need someone to talk to, come to me. I'm sure you will want to talk to Hinata about this too…"

This made a cold sweat run down Naruto's forehead. He knew that he would have to talk to not only Hinata, but also Houji. What if either of them responded like the villagers do every day?

"…And she will not be upset." Iruka said a little louder at noticing Naruto's impulsive behavior resurfacing. This seemed to calm him down as he silently nodded. The scarred chunin noticed that the mood around the two was still dark. He also knew that Naruto had not fully absorbed the information. But now wasn't the time to dwell on this.

"Ayame-san?" Iruka called. The waitress turned around from her duties and looked at Iruka. "Can I get another bowl of ramen for Naruto please?"

Naruto looked up and smiled at receiving another free bowl of his favorite treat. Ayame noticed the smile and knew Iruka had done that to remove the foul mood surrounding the whole shop.

"Coming up." she said with a wink. Iruka cleared his throat and tried to hide the blush on his face at the obvious flirting with his hand.

Naruto finished his current bowl and put his chopsticks down.

"I'm going to be the best next year and graduate." Naruto said.

The chunin turned to him with a smile and nodded.

"Don't let me down, Naruto." he said as he reached his own bowl.

Naruto threw out a thumbs-up with his casual wide-grin. The boy's unnecessary motion knocked the bowl out of Iruka's hands. The aforementioned man watched the bowl fly out of his hands as if someone had slowed down time, but he could not do anything to block the hot broth from its intended destination – his crotch. While he couldn't block it or jump out of his seat in time, the chunin could make sure it hit a less crucial area. He swiveled his chair to the right and braced himself for the scalding liquid.

Three individuals found themselves drinking freshly-prepared tea and enjoying the peaceful sound of a cool breeze flowing through the tall trees surrounding Konohagakure. One, its leader, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was finishing a very important document that dealt with the reintegration of the Uzumaki clan grounds into Konoha. The Hokage had been very happy that his friend and drinking buddy had made contact with the boy he considered a grandchild. He had been even happier to know that Naruto was in good-spirits about it, knowing that the boy could have easily become very angry, making the old man a target for several pranks. The second, Hyuuga Hiashi, was sitting in his study, reading over several documents regarding Hyuuga practices. The man currently had his calculating eyes closed, pondering the abilities that he had seen today. To him, a mastery of sealing would be incredibly useful for the Hyuuga. Personally, he had been against the use of the _Kago no Tori no Juin (Caged Bird Seal)_ since his twin brother had died years ago and needed a way to bypass the stubborn Hyuuga Council of elders. A fully realized Uzumaki could make a world of difference in how that seal is managed. The last, Yuuhi Kurenai, the raven-haired genjutsu mistress, who had been sitting in her apartment's living room with Asuma. He had told her about Naruto's recent battle a few days ago and his brutal handling of the traitor, Mizuki. From what she was hearing, perhaps she would have to change her original plan of adding Inuzuka Kiba to her 'dream team' and add the young Uzumaki. But, of course, without seeing him herself, she could not jump the gun.

As if all of them were synchronized, they each picked up their cup of tea and brought it to their lips. Suddenly, a shrill cry reached their trained ears and shocked them, causing their fingers to lose coordination and their grip. All of their eyes widened as the liquid made its way to and landed on their laps, making them all jump up and scream at varying volumes.

How Naruto had influenced them all without even being there, none of them would know.

~ CHAPTER END~


	3. Evolution

**A/N:** Hello, my fans, new and old. We are back with the third chapter in this unique retelling of the classic Naruto story. The development begins and we enter into a new arc.

I've been seeing a lot of concern over Naruto's behavior. Let me clarify something. I'm not changing who he is. What's changed is his motivations. I have to say, the biggest thing that I did not agree with in the canon was that Naruto did not channel the emotion that he had when Iruka nearly died into his motivations for being Hokage. If anything, it should have made him more serious toward becoming better. That is what I have tried to captured here.

With that said, continue to review my story. Your comments are all considered in how I am writing this story. Thanks!

* * *

 **Evolution**

Since the battle with Mizuki, three, peaceful months had passed in the Hidden Village. However, while some may have used these months to relax, Naruto had been using it to catch up. It was apparent that in the previous years of the academy, he had not been trying his best. And if one would tell him that he needed to try harder, he most likely would have responded with fire, exercising his well-known, loud voice. However the realization that he only needed to fight for those that believed in him and have a solitary focus made him realize that he did not need to impress people with his bold proclamations. He just needed to prove that he was good enough. With that goal in mind and the assistance from Uzumaki Houji, the blond thrust himself into training, both physical and in the art of _fuinjutsu._ Within a month, he realized that the ninja world had been limited in terms of what it could do with fuinjutsu. Things like storing items, and creating explosive tags were not only basic, but also extremely linear and lacking in creativity. What Naruto quickly realized was that fuinjutsu could be used in ways beyond simple levitation, as he displayed before. Perhaps the reason he was such a clever prankster was that his mind gripped onto creative aspects rather than theoretical aspects.

Houji confirmed his suspicions, explaining that there were not many scholars in Uzushio, yet there were plenty of seal masters. He also informed Naruto that the Uzushio graduation ceremony did not involve using basic sealing techniques, but creative uses of the basics. It seemed like being an Uzumaki only bought benefits.

The elder Uzumaki had been surprised that Naruto had known the _Kage Bunshin_ _no Jutsu_ already. Houji informed Naruto that it was the Uzumaki that had helped the Nidaime Hokage come up with that technique, and, since then, the Kage Bunshin was used for every task in Uzushio, since they had the chakra capacity for it. With that already taken care of, Houji decided that building up the Uzumaki clan district could be a part of his physical training, and so, let him reconstruct houses and buildings on his own, after giving him instructions on the specifics of the buildings.

The blond quickly realized that throwing his clones' strength at the pounds and pounds of lumber, stone and paint was insufficient, and he had to approach it with some kind of strategy. In his struggles, he learned how to use his clones intelligently to approach big problems. He had even experimented with the use of some of his seals to make his daily jobs easier.

The library was the first building properly built. In it, Houji had stocked Uzumaki documents that were salvaged from Uzushio before it was destroyed. This space was occupied by Naruto after his daily training was over, allowing him to learn more about his ancestors and what kind of seals they were known for. Figuring that he would need some kind of training space, he built one adjacent to the library, making use of his skills in construction. While one group of workers would find that it took months to build a structure as massive as a library, Naruto, with his boundless energy and his army of clones needed only two weeks to build not only the library, but his training grounds as well.

Through an unfortunate accident involving a saw and the finger of one of his clones, the blond had figured out that the clones' experiences transfer back to him. Since then, he had been training his Uzumaki fighting style and some of the more advanced seals in his arsenal. It was after one such session that Naruto found himself lying on the floor, catching his breath.

Houji watched him from a bench in the room.

"You'd better end your training early today, Naruto. You've got your first day in your last year in the Academy to worry about tomorrow. You probably want to get some rest." he said. Naruto jumped up onto his feet and punched his palm with a fist.

"Yeah! I'll show 'em what an Uzumaki can do." he said with a grin. The young Uzumaki ran out of a side-door in the training hall, leaving Houji to his devices. As he ran to his make-shift house, which he shared with Houji, he passed several of his clones performing construction of other houses. They waved toward him and offered the same goofy grin that he gave to them. Once he arrived, he went into the bathroom and took a quick shower to cleanse himself of all the sweat that he had worked up in the day, and then jumped into bed. As he laid there, he sorted through some of the new memories that he had gathered. Fortunately, his clones were solid and were powered by chakra, so as long as they did not take damage, they would be able to stay active for as long as their chakra reserves were complete. If, theoretically, Naruto could create that many clones and they each had a low amount of chakra, they would all dispel quickly, and he would be thrown into a coma from the sheer amount of mental distress. Houji had taught him that he would have mastered the Kage Bunshin when he was able to control the amount of chakra that he fed to each clone in order to perform timed reconnaissance missions.

As he sorted through the last of the visions, he felt the warm hands of sleep stroke his consciousness. His last thought was of a purple-haired girl that he had come to know and begin to love. He hadn't seen her in a month now, and was extremely curious as to how she was doing. Her training picked up before the first day of their last year, as she had decided to delve into her Hyuuga training. The stamina training that she had undergone with Naruto had been beneficial. Now, instead of fighting for ten minutes, she could fight continuously for 45, without needing to catch her breath. Naruto hoped that it had helped her. But he would find the answer to that soon enough.

* * *

At the district of the famous Hyuuga clan, several lavender-colored eyes observed the rising sun. However only one of those pair of eyes widened with excitement at the coming morning. Hyuuga Hinata, the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, had been ready for her first day of academy a half-hour before the sun rose. Her shoulder-length hair captured the light entering through her window well; the bangs that graced her head that light from entering her eyes. She felt the need to run to the Academy now, but knew that breakfast would be a more appropriate use of her time. Spending time with her family had become far more enjoyable after Naruto had come into their home. Perhaps it was due to the positive effect he had on her, which she readily displayed against her sister, Hanabi, multiple times.

The young woman hopped off her chair and opened her closet, revealing a new wardrobe. She quickly put on a form-fitting jacket that was a shade darker than her hair color, which had fur sewn to its collar. She had customized the sleeves to have a thin, orange stripe around the wrists – a color that she had grown to love. On its back was a crest that many have not seen, that of her family; a black flame within a white circle completed the jacket's design. She then slipped out of her pajama pants and put on a pair of clean navy pants. After quickly scanning herself in the mirror, she walked out of the door into the seemingly labyrinthine hallways of the Main House.

"Hinata-sama."

The girl turned around and met the eyes of her cousin. He too had grown less touchy, but still had an air of superiority that he did not seem to want to let go. Nevertheless, Hinata had learned to ignore it, chalking it up to the typical Hyuuga behavior. She gave him a small bow and turned back around to continue on her way to the dining hall. Neji followed closely behind.

Within a few seconds, the two reached the breakfast table. Hiashi and Hanabi were already there. After the formalities and a quiet breakfast, Hinata found herself walking briskly out of the Hyuuga district, and broke into a run when she was far enough from the supposed all-seeing eyes.

It did not take her long to reach the Academy. She saw several parents dropping off their children for their first year of schooling to become ninja, but she sped past them, knowing exactly where she needed to be. The excited girl soon found herself in front of a sliding door, which she opened to find an empty classroom. Or so she thought until she walked in and looked up at a seat in the top of the room. The sight of the boy with a fanged smile playing with his dog gave her his identification.

"Hello Kiba-kun." Hinata said to her friend.

Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru both turned to the familiar face and smiled.

"Hey Hinata. What's up?" the boy asked. Before Hinata could answer, other students began filling it. She didn't notice Naruto enter with everybody, and felt slightly saddened. Everyone had filled into the room, sitting at spots in which they decided to occupy for the rest of the year, leaving several spots in the front open. She turned back to Kiba and noticed that he had begun talking to Shino, leaving her free to wait for the former menace.

A disgruntled yell made Hinata slowly smile, and she couldn't help but count the seconds. On the third count, she felt the full force of what seemed to be a black and orange tornado.

"Hinata!" Naruto screamed in joy. The action attracted the attention of everyone present. With each eye that fell on the two, the embarrassment on Hinata's face showed. A blond female in the room stared at the scene with glee, as if she was a lioness that spotted easy prey. Naruto, on the other hand, did not care about the others, who had all but continued their conversations. He then held Hinata at arm's length and gave her a look over.

"That new look is great on you…Is that orange?!" he said, fully aware of the orange on her black sleeves. "I knew you would understand how awesome it was."

She looked at him, her blush not leaving her face as the other senior students in the room began gossiping quietly.

She took the time to check out his new wardrobe. He had abandoned a lot of the orange. He was wearing his Uzumaki clan black jacket, but it had been customized to have two horizontal orange stripes at the bottom. The sleeves had also been hemmed to expose his forearms, which had armguards covering them. He had abandoned an ordinary shirt in favor of a mesh one and his neck was covered by a black scarf. His pants were completely orange, except at the bottom, where there were two black stripes wrapping around the legs. The black sandals all but completed his ensemble. His Jinsei had not been sealed and was actually hanging on a holster that was wrapped around his torso. On that note, he appeared taller. Hinata wondered if he had changed his diet now that he had someone to actually prepare meals for him. His hair had also grown longer. His hair seemed to cascade down to frame the side of his head – something that made Hinata wonder where she had seen this before.

"Y-You look g-good too." she said bashfully and almost absent-mindedly.

At that, everyone in the room nearly fell out of their seats. Who was this girl and what did she do with the normally quiet one? And when did she and Naruto get so close?

As if that wasn't enough material for the class to draw from, Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and led her to an empty seat in the front of the room.

The most surprising fact? Naruto had paid attention to nobody else, including Haruno Sakura, whom he had been infamous for harassing. In fact, the girl in question could not help but wonder what changed.

"I see we're already excited."

The students all looked up to the front of the room, realizing that their teacher, Umino Iruka, had walked in. Naruto put his hands in his pockets and leaned back into his chair, prepared for another boring lecture. But, his day would just keep getting better.

"Glad to see that all of you are here safe and sound. But I wonder what you've done this summer. So we're going to loosen up with some sparring before our lectures today. Everyone, follow me to the Academy Training Field." Iruka said as he began to walk out. The students all got up and followed suit, except the Uzumaki and Hyuuga heirs.

Naruto's grin rapidly grew wilder. He wanted to show his skills and shock everyone, if not to draw attention to himself, then to prove that he was worth taking seriously. Hinata noticed this smile, aware of his love of fighting, and smiled herself.

"I wonder what new tricks you've learned." Naruto said, turning his head to Hinata.

She blushed at seeing his smile; she had missed his grin so much over the past two months and her body had forgotten exactly what his smile did to her.

Again, he grabbed her hand and, this time, waited for her to catch up to him before walking off to follow the rest of the class.

* * *

"Attention, class." Iruka said, tapping a pen on the clipboard that he was holding to interrupt any conversation. Once he had silence, he continued. "Now, I know we all know the rules, but remember, respect your fellow classmates. No techniques that could endanger each other. As this is the first spar, I will not limit you to taijutsu, in order to see the extent of your abilities. Are there any volunteers to go first?"

"I'll go against anybody here!"

Of course nobody was surprised that the hyperactive blond attention-seeker was calling out everyone. And 'everyone' included the famous Uchiha that was paraded by the many fangirls that were growing increasingly irate with the Uzumaki. Unsurprisingly, the self-proclaimed blond leader of these fangirls spoke first.

"Sasuke-kun would destroy you." Ino Yamanaka proclaimed with a cocky and proud grin.

"Is that so?" Naruto asked nobody in particular.

His nonchalant response threw Ino off immediately. Why was he just ignoring her presence and grinning like an idiot?

"I volunteer to fight Sasuke then." Naruto said, ripping the Jinsei out of its holster and pointing to the dark-haired boy that was staring at him with disinterest. The Uchiha then stepped forward into the sparring circle without even being called.

"Let's get this over with, dobe." Sasuke said, making the Seal of Confrontation.

Naruto stepped forward, also making the Seal.

Iruka nodded in acceptance of the fight that was about to take place.

"You may begin." he said.

Sasuke rushed forward immediately. He was pretty quick, but Naruto was ready. The blond threw his Jinsei into the air and created two Shadow Clones to hold off Sasuke. The Uchiha chuckled at the attempt to hold him off with hollow clones.

That assumption was the only regrettable one that he would make in this fight after taking a blow to the forehead from one of the clone's wrists. Sasuke recovered quickly, jumping up and throwing a kick to one of the clones. Unfortunately, it would not be so easy to defeat, as it blocked the strike with ease. The other clone struck out with a palm, scoring a hit on the stomach of the airborne boy and knocking him to the floor. The clones then jump away from Sasuke, who had been somewhat angered by these two, _solid_ clones making a fool of him. He noticed that the real Naruto had just been looking at him, holding the Jinsei in one hand and making a strange hand-seal with the other. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke quickly ran through handseals.

" _Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)!_ " he yelled as he projected several tiny fireballs outward to strike not only the clones, but Naruto. All three of them scattered, avoiding the fireballs with relative ease. Naruto decided to use his momentum to his advantage.

" _Uzumaki Fuin: Sekisho Sannin! (Three Man Barrier)"_

Now, Naruto and his clones were glowing with chakra. They all ran toward Sasuke in formation, something that put Sasuke off immediately. The paraded genius made more hand signs.

" _Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu)"_

A massive fireball was launched from the mouth of the Uchiha. All of his classmates gasped at the size and heat coming off the fireball, but Iruka was worried that he might have to step in. When he saw Naruto continue running forward, confidently, he had second thoughts.

The blond and his clones stuck their hands out, producing a wall in front of them. The fireball hit the wall not a second later, making a massive bang that could be heard from all corners of Konoha. The sound, though, was not the scariest part; the fireball being absorbed by the wall was. In fact, the fireballs size grew smaller and smaller until the wall had completely absorbed the formerly incredible technique. After the absorption was complete, a seal was drawn on the wall and the technique was immediately dispelled. However, by the time Sasuke realized that Naruto had still been running toward him this entire time, it had been too late. The clone in the front caught him with a punch to the stomach, followed up by an uppercut from the other that looked like it did damage, according to the open wound that had appeared on Sasuke's face. The clones dispelled immediately afterwards, filling the general vicinity of the fight with smoke. Sasuke had recovered by this time, but he could not see past the smoke. However, as it cleared, everyone was aware of what had just happened.

Naruto had won. And in a convincing, albeit showy fashion; the blond had a kunai pressed against Sasuke's neck and a ram hand-sign prepared. Then came the part that unnerved everyone present. The boy's eyes had no semblance of joy at beating one of the most hailed students in his year. In fact, he was completely serious, as if he had seen someone close to him die. That assumption was actually not too far off; Iruka understood that look in his eyes and smiled proudly. Maybe his near-death at the hands of Mizuki was a good wakeup call. After all, there is a proportional relationship in how many people you can protect and your strength.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka said with some pride.

Naruto twirled the kunai around his finger before inserting it into the pouch tied to his pants and walked away. Sasuke had looked at the blond with massive amounts of surprise. Where normally he would have been angry, he was more curious. Where did the dead-last get all of this power from?

"Just in case you weren't convinced, I planted a basic paralysis seal on your stomach at the beginning of this fight." Naruto said without turning around.

Sasuke looked down and noticed the seal on his abdomen. Naruto could have won this spar in less than a minute! Now that made him mad. But there was nothing he could do about it now. Perhaps he would talk to Naruto later. There was simply no way that the boy could have gotten that good in 3 months without a teacher. And where the hell did he learn fuinjutsu?! Arguably, the only reason he lost this fight was because he underestimated the boy. His unruly and brawly style of before had been replaced by a proper fighting style. And then there was those solid clones. What a powerful technique! Sasuke followed Naruto to the area where the rest of the students had been waiting, staring him down the whole way.

The blond flashed a grin toward Hinata, who was staring at him in amazement. He then looked over to Ino and winked. The fangirl was flabberghasted, and, as much as she didn't want to admit this, extremely impressed. He even looked kind of cool.

Only Hinata knew his secret. He had spent 3 months physically conditioning himself, practicing forms and spending every single day learning the theory and execution of his fuinjutsu. Not to mention that she was certain that he was not trying as hard as he could have in the previous years. But now, he was focused on his own improvement. This was the _real_ Naruto.

He stopped when he reached Hinata's side and pulled out a book. Hinata expected that he would still be learning theory. As an Uzumaki, he already had an edge in steadiness; he would probably never draw a seal incorrectly. However, learning how to use these seals is a different story.

Meanwhile, conversation had begun as to how badly Sasuke just lost. The moody pre-teen didn't care about what they thought, but he realized that if Naruto had gotten that good so quickly, then maybe he needed to be doing what Naruto was doing. But as he looked over to the blond, he noticed that all he was doing was reading this book and talking to the Hyuuga. Sasuke immediately put the information he had together. That book had to contain techniques that Naruto had practiced over the break.

"Oy. Dobe." Sasuke goaded, ignoring the fact that more matches were going on.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, knowing that he had just been called by his ill-fitting pet name.

"What is that?" he asked, pointing to the book.

"It's a book on Advanced Fuinjutsu. Doesn't seem very advanced though…Although, it would probably be impossible for you to learn, teme." he said with a challenging smirk.

Sasuke knew he had never practiced fuinjutsu at a level beyond the basics. The boy had always known that the Uchiha were known for their dojutsu, and mastery of the Fire Release.

"There's nothing that you've learned that I can't." he said simply.

"Actually, most of the fuinjutsu I know you can't perform." Naruto said truthfully. "They require so much chakra that you would die just by trying."

Sasuke was shocked at that fact. There was no way that was true. If it was, it would mean Naruto had massive stores of chakra, given that he used one of those techniques and could still fight optimally.

"You probably still don't believe me. Look, here's proof. Why do you think fuinjutsu is a nearly dead art? It's not because that it takes some time to do. Once you learn these seals, they take no time at all, unless they're super complicated."

Sasuke thought about what he said.

"Then there must be some kind of drawback…and you're saying it's the amount of chakra it takes?" Sasuke reasoned.

"You can always see for yourself. I'll bring you a basics book tomorrow, teme. Maybe we can finally be friends and you can get that stick out of your ass. I would love to have someone to talk about seals with."

"Hmph." Sasuke responded. Perhaps having a friend would be useful for his goals after all.

Iruka cleared his throat to settle the students.

"Let's see...next is Hyuuga Hinata. Would you like to choose your opponent?" Iruka called out.

Sasuke looked at the Hyuuga, recognizing that she appeared a little more confident in herself than before, just from how she stood. But, he did not expect her to so quickly point out Haruno Sakura. If he didn't know better, he would think they had some kind of grudge.

And while nobody else knew, she knew exactly why she was doing this. Deep down, she never understood why Naruto held feelings for the pink-haired fangirl. She might not have been the prettiest, but she was certainly stronger and cared for Naruto far more. The girl felt a blaze within her was ignited when she could prove it. Naruto was grinning and patting her on the back.

"You got this." he said.

Hinata just nodded. Knowing that she had Naruto's support was all that she needed to try her best.

Sakura scoffed at Hinata's challenge.

"Careful, where you point that finger, Hinata. You haven't beaten any of us here yet." she said.

"And you won't beat me now." she said.

Naruto couldn't hold back his laughter at the clever retort, causing the pink-haired girl to get irrationally angry and storm over to him. But Hinata stepped in her way.

"Your match is with me." she said, her practiced Hyuuga tone coming through. Sakura just could not understand where this confident version of her normally shy classmate came from. But she figured that she could easily take her down a few pegs in this spar.

Sakura walked over to the sparring circle and waited for Hinata to settle in. Once Hinata made the Seal of Confrontation, Sakura reciprocated it and waited for their teacher to start the match.

"Begin."

Hinata rapidly extended her palm toward Sakura, blasting chakra out of her finger, which struck Sakura in the chest. It only took 4 seconds for her to fall.

"Winner….Hyuuga Hinata…." Iruka said, barely understanding how the pink-haired girl ended up on the ground, knocked unconscious. She turned away and ran over to Naruto.

Nobody in this class understood what was going on anymore. Normally, Iruka would find this priceless, but he didn't quite know how a Hyuuga just debilitated her opponent from far away. The teacher picked up his student and gently laid her on the side, and made a mental note to ask Hinata what technique she had used.,

"Woooooaaah." Naruto said, extremely amazed by what Hinata had done. "Did your father teach you this stuff?"

Hinata seemed to immediately revert to her shy state.

"I-I actually learned it from the book that I got from the library." she said as Iruka called up Kiba and Yamanaka Ino to fight.

"Right! Oh…Hey, we should talk about it over ramen, after school today. We've got a lot to catch up on."

The heiress felt her heart soar when he asked her out, despite the few times that he had before. She nodded with a blush, willing to freely follow Naruto wherever he wanted to take her.

Naruto and Hinata both whipped their head toward the battle at hand after hearing their classmate's drill-like attack crashing into the ground.

"Why is this guy's body so heavy?!" Kiba shouted to nobody in particular. A few of those present that weren't aware of the Yamanaka clan would have seen Kiba as the winner of this match when seeing the girl prone on the floor, but the rest laughed at the fact that the boy fell for such an obvious trick by his own fault. Akamaru barked at Kiba in a futile attempt to wake him up, but Ino relinquished her control on Kiba after being announced the winner of their spar.

"Dammit…really?" Kiba said upon realizing that he lost. "That wouldn't work twice."

"Duh, dog breath, you wouldn't get a second chance in battle if you got caught with that the first time." Ino said, flipping her platinum-blond hair and walking away. Kiba growled, but remained quiet as he left the field.

"With that, our sparring session is over. You all did well. It's evident that some of you did a lot of work this summer. Good job. Now for class. Everyone head inside." said the scarred man as he walked to wake Sakura up.

Hinata looked over at her opponent and felt guilty. She didn't know what came over her, but she just felt like she needed to do this.

"You really did a number on her, Hinata." said a somewhat husky voice that made Hinata shiver.

"H-Hai, Kiba-kun." she said somewhat jumpy at feeling Kiba's breath on her neck.

"I would love to know where you learned that stuff. Maybe you and I should get together sometime and practice our techniques." he said.

The quiet girl couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was absolutely no way that she would accept that proposal, especially with such a horrible pickup line.

"Maybe another time." she began. "Naruto and I are going somewhere today."

Kiba sighed in response.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask what's been going on between you two." the boy asked with a displeased expression.

"She's my girlfriend." Naruto answered. Kiba jumped forward and span around to see Naruto smiling at him.

Hinata on the other hand was reeling, both externally and internally, at Naruto's proclaimation. But she felt her consciousness leaving her when his hand wrapped around her waist. She didn't know where his boldness came from, but she couldn't deny that she liked that he was in control of this relationship. She might have been more confident, but she still wasn't forward. Kiba could practically smell the dopamine coming off Hinata's body.

"I see." Kiba said with a smirk. "We'll have to fight sometime, then."

The Inuzuka left on that note. Naruto had a very confused expression. But Hinata was looking down and twiddling her fingers – the blush hadn't left her face.

"Do you know what he's talking about?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun. Men in the Inuzuka clan typically will fight any other male for the attention of a female." she said, each word seemingly getting more quiet.

"Wait…what?" Naruto asked, not understanding why he had to fight.

"Just accept his challenge when you receive it. I think you will be able to win." Hinata said, pulling Naruto's arm in the direction that Kiba was walking to get him moving.

Naruto shrugged and began to walk back. He threw out a thumbs-up.

"I'll take on anyone that challenges me!" Naruto said with a confident smile, shoving his thumb into his chest.

Hinata nodded.

"Me too." she said with a small smile of her own, simply appreciating the time that she could spend with him.

* * *

After class ended, the blond Uzumaki was the first one outside. He had his hands in his pockets, waiting for his shy girlfriend to come out of the Academy. But before she did, he spotted the stern faced boy that he sparred just today walking toward him.

"Naruto."

The boy looked at the unnaturally serious face of the last Uchiha in Konoha with curiosity. After all, this boy never spoke to anyone.

"What's up, teme?"

The Uchiha paused before speaking.

"We'll fight again after this year is over." Uchiha said. "And I will win."

Naruto figured that that was a compliment coming from the normally stoic boy. Naruto raised his hand into the familiar Seal of Reconciliation, which Sasuke took, acknowledging him as one that came from similar standing and respecting him as a strong opponent. The two looked at each other, one with a smile and the other with a neutral expression. Naruto's smile slowly became more serious, as he seemed to view the catastrophe that befell the young Uchiha a few years ago through Sasuke's onyx eyes.

Sasuke let go and walked away. The Uchiha crest on his back seemed like it contained a weight that Naruto couldn't fathom just yet. He decided that he would make an effort to befriend Sasuke and make sure that he had someone to save him from a life of darkness, like Houji did for him. When he looked back at the entrance, he saw another problem that he would have to deal with at some point. The Inuzuka heir apparently wanted to fight him over Hinata. That part, he didn't understand. After all, what was the point of trying to sway the opinion of someone that had already committed to a relationship with another person? With combat, at that. It just seemed too socially unusual, even for Naruto, who was arguably the most unusual boy in Konoha. He was so lost in thought that he didn't see Hinata right in front of him until she poked him in the arm.

"Oh! There you are." Naruto said.

Hinata smiled and tilted her head.

"Anyway. We should get some ramen and catch up. I gotta hear what's been going on with you in the last few months." Naruto said with a toothy grin.

Hinata noticed his grin and again felt a wave of curiosity wash over her. Where had she seen a face like that be-…?

She redirected her head slightly upward and noticed the face of the Yondaime, gasping. There was just no way.

"Coming, Hinata-chan?" he inquired as he extended his hand.

Hinata looked at Naruto's face with wider eyes, mumbling her acknowledgment of their afternoon's plans, with immense amounts of surprise at the uncanny similarities between Konoha's greatest hero and the very same village's pariah.

* * *

"So what have you been up to?" he asked, slurping some of his ramen down.

"Basically, after our last sparring session about two months ago, I brought up that I had seen some techniques from that book I found in the library. My father was skeptical, of course, but after taking a look at the book and doing some digging, he found that the techniques were indeed recorded in the Hyuuga archives. The one that had created them, however, was not a Hyuuga."

Naruto stopped eating and look at her with surprise.

"You mean that a Hyuuga wrote the book, but the techniques were not created by you guys? That's hard to believe with how stiff and proud you guys are in yourselves…no offense." Naruto said, quickly recognizing that he could have potentially insulted his girlfriend.

"None taken, Naruto-kun."

"So why were they made at all then? And why would the Hyuuga want more techniques?"

"My father said that this book had been published during war time. During these wars, assassins were used to take out powerful ninja on each side really easily. The Shodaime saw the Hyuuga as an excellent tool for assassination mission given that our Byakugan allows us to see at long distances and through walls. But getting in close-range to someone is extremely hard to do against a guarded outpost or village. So the Hyuuga received some help from the Senju and learned to use our chakra control to amplify the strength of our Jyuuken."

"Why them? That just seems like a random clan to me." Naruto said.

Hinata shook her head in disagreement.

"The Shodaime and the Nidaine were both Senju. Even more importantly, Senju and the Uchiha founded Konoha and are officially the oldest clans in our village's history. We know the Uchiha for their dojutsu, but the Senju are able to use their chakra to make themselves faster, stronger and even more perceptive. Unfortunately, the Senju were nearly wiped out by the Uchiha by surprise when Uchiha Madara took control of the clan."

Hinata instructed Naruto on the history of Konoha in a way that would make her father proud.

"We already project our chakra through our fingers and palms when we use our style. So, through the Senju taught us how to amplify that. It turns out that the Senju training made our chakra able to be used as projectiles. We called it _Juukyouken (Gentle Assassin Fist)._ "

Naruto stared at her. She noticed that he had stopped consuming his ramen halfway through the story, something that she took as a deep compliment.

"Why are the Hyuuga so cool…?" he said with a grin.

Hinata blushed in response, hiding her face with her hair.

"Hey wait, if you could kill someone from a range with that move, then why did you use it on Sakura?"

Hinata paused. Why did she use it on Sakura? Mentally shrugging the question off, she decided to explain the benefits of the Juukyouken.

"Just like the Juuken, the Juukyouken can't hurt someone not hit in a vital area. I didn't activate my Byakugan in that fight. A-and even if I had, I wouldn't have struck a place that could be fatal." she said quickly, catching herself and trying to fill in all of her story's holes before Naruto pointed them out.

The boy silently mulled over all of the information that he was told.

"So you can just use your Juuken like normal and add this boost to it to get the Juukyouken?"

Hinata thought about it for a little while.

"It's not that simple. That is partially why the style was abandoned. Since I am implementing a new way of using my chakra, I need to become even better at chakra control. But, eventually, I should be able to alternate between styles. But that will take years…" Hinata said as she stirred her ramen's broth with her chopsticks.

"Hey…Don't get sad. Training takes time. I only learned five new seals over the past two months. And those were really basic ones." Naruto said.

"Five? That's a lot, Naruto-kun." she said.

"Yeah, but a lot of the Uzumaki fuinjutsu take years to learn too. It's really a different field. The thing that made them so scary was that their skill was according to their age. Houjiji could probably beat any ninja in this village." Naruto said with pride. "I heard that Uzumaki usually fought in teams of two and were masters of the Kage Bunshin, and even that technique took years to learn back then…"

"So that's why Uzushio was targeted in the war…Having an entire village that could make incredible amounts of clones and also were unpredictable with their sealing…They must have been incredibly scary. And that's not even covering the fact that Konoha were their allies…" Hinata said. Her soft voice seemed even softer as she realized just how much of a threat the Uzumaki could have been as an enemy. She looked at Naruto who appeared to be thinking about something else, not realizing just how powerful he would become.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The boy turned around and looked at the intruder. His fox mask made Naruto a little uneasy.

"Lord Hokage would like to speak with you."

"Really…? Now…?" Naruto whined.

"I'll come with you, Naruto-kun. Let's go see what he wants." Hinata said, putting the money for both their meals on the counter.

"Alright."

* * *

When Naruto reached the office of Sarutobi Hiruzen, he was surprised to see the smiling face of his surrogate grandfather looking back at him. Naruto was about to ask about his presence, but Houji interrupted him.

"I see you bought young Hinata here. It's so nice to see you again. Both of you, sit. We're about to hear the best news of the year."

The two did as they were told and stayed silent as Hiruzen lit his pipe with a jutsu.

"The Uzumaki have been officially been registered as a clan within Konoha."

The Sandaime had to fight to stay serious at the expressions on Naruto and Hinata's faces. The former leaned forward so far that he might have fallen off his chair if pushed. The latter looked as if someone had just popped up in front of her out of thin-air.

"The rest of the Clan Heads have already been informed. Houji has been registered as Uzumaki Clan Head and will be added to the Village Council within the day. That leaves you, young Naruto." he said.

"Who, me? Why?"

"You are already an heir." the old man said, interlocking his fingers and leaning on his elbows on the desk.

Naruto's expression grew more serious at that.

"Old man, you know that I didn't have parents…and I didn't even know about Houjiji before three months ago…" Naruto said with a somewhat dark voice that sent a shiver through both Hinata and Houji. Hiruzen, on the other hand, stood his ground.

"That does not mean that your father wasn't of importance." Hiruzen said, shoving a file that had been lying on his desk toward Naruto. The boy looked at the Hokage with caution before quickly reaching for the file.

"Let me tell you now. The information in that file is top secret. With that information, you will learn of your roots. That is, your family and their abilities. You may share this information with anyone you wish, but keep in mind that the reason that we have kept this from you was, first, you needed to mature a little more. Fortunately for all of us, within these last few months, you have proven that you are capable of putting your prankster ways behind you. Thank you for not painting the monument anymore, by the way, you've saved me a ton of work." he said with a small smile before continuing. "Secondly, your father had several enemies that you wouldn't have been strong enough at your young age to defend from if an assassination attempt were to take place. But I hear that you've been receiving some training from Houji. Not only that, this news would not get out so quickly that enemies of your father would dare penetrate the defenses of this village immediately. I feel as though this information would only help you."

The widely proclaimed Professor motioned toward Naruto with a wave of his hand to urge him to open the file. When he did and took a look at the profiles of the individuals inside, he nearly dropped the file, but Hinata stuck her hand underneath it to keep its contents secure. She was surprised that she managed to react fast enough after seeing the face of the late Yondaime there.

"This has to be a joke, right?" Naruto said, looking at both of his grandfather figures.

"No, it is not. But before you read into both their profiles, it would be best that we reveal another important matter."

The Hokage left his seat, placed his pipe down on the table, and walked over to the window overlooking the majestic Konohagakure.

"The story that you have most likely heard in school about the death of Namikaze Minato was a partial truth. The Kyuubi did kill him, indeed. But you cannot rightly kill a _bijuu (tailed beast)_. They are nature itself."

"It was sealed…" the elder Uzumaki said.

Naruto needed no further explanation. He had seen that odd seal on his stomach many times before. He looked catatonic as he ran through the information that he had received repeatedly. The helpless expression on his face broke the hearts of everyone present. It took a solid minute for him to even change his expression, and when he did, the expression that he had on his face was one that nobody expected.

"N-Naruto-kun, why are you…smiling?" his girlfriend asked.

"…I think…I understand everything. Maybe I'm feeling at peace because now I understand. I'm sad that my dad is dead, but I get it. This just makes me more determined to learn fuinjutsu. It was the only way to stop the Kyuubi from destroying Konoha. When you're Hokage, you need to be ready to put your life on the line to protect everyone. I'm proud that he did what he had to do."

"Yes. I could not have said that better myself." said the current Hokage. "Your mother had been the previous carrier of the Kyuubi. That said, if a bijuu is set free, it is most certain to cause the death of the _jinchuuriki (power of human sacrifice)_. During your birth, the Kyuubi was to remain with her using safe methods, but…unforeseen cirucmstances…prevented that. In any event, the Kyuubi was released and the beast tried to kill you, but your mother and father got in its way and managed to protect you at the cost of their lives."

Naruto nodded, fighting back the tears that tried to break free from his eyes. He took a look at the files at this point.

"You may find that your abilities are increasing at an exceptional rate." Hiruzen continued, skillfully redirecting the conversation. "You can thank your father for that. The Namikaze, while a minor clan, had an exceptional eye for detail. They seemed to do everything much faster than everyone else, including physical movement."

"What? I'm not doing anything faster." Naruto said while closing his eyes to think about it.

"Naruto, learning as many seals as you have is not an easy feat, basics or not. The five seals you did learn would have taken anyone half a year to perfect." Houji said with a smile.

"Really? So I am just that awesome." Naruto said with a widening grin.

"Don't get a full head, brat. You've still got a lot more basics to learn." Houji said, ruffling his hair. "You'll also be glad to know that there were Uzumaki that did not practice seals to the point of mastery."

Houji pointed to a picture of the red-haired woman behind Minato's.

"Your mother cared more about the traditional ninja arts than anything. That said, she, like most Uzumaki still had a vast knowledge of our sealing techniques. She was actually a master of our taijutsu, _Hagaude (Steel Arm)_ , as well. While the style was made to weaken the opponent long enough for a seal to be prepared by a teammate, she decided to use it to fight on her own. In fact, she added to the repertoire of techniques that you can use while you are fighting. She was so gifted that she turned the art from one that focuses on strikes to one that focuses on grappling, at the same time! I wouldn't be surprised if she incorporated what she did know about sealing into her combat." Houji said with a large amount of praise. "Despite her not mastering sealing, she also managed to learn one of the most difficult Uzumaki fuin in the _Kongou Fuusa (Adamantine Sealing Chains)._ That technique would give any Uzumaki pause, but it is incredibly useful when mastered. I wish I could have met her myself."

"Yes, she was an incredible kunoichi. She actually wanted to be a Hokage as well, just like you. Kushina had become famous for those abilities of her. And her trigger-fire temper." Hiruzen said with a chuckle. He produced a journal from his desk. "This was her log of techniques that she recorded herself, just in case the Uzumaki would resurface, and, most likely, to teach you with, if she were still with us. This is now yours."

"This is awesome! The good times keep coming!" Naruto said, practically jumping out of his chair and grabbing the book. "Thanks Jiji. For everything."

The old Hokage smiled and sat back down.

"Why don't you and Hinata continue your date while Hiruzen and I catch up?" Houji said with a smile. He reached for and extracted the sensitive documents and photos from Naruto. "I'll take these files and leave them on your bed."

Hinata, who thought she was practically invisible in the room, jolted out of her seat at the word 'date' being voiced. Naruto grinned, taking Hinata's hand and practically running out of the room with her.

The two elders smiled, watching the two go.

"Now, what to do with his inheritance…I'm sure he would have loved to know that Minato was known for his sealing techniques too."

Houji shook his head.

"These techniques are extremely advanced and could be life threatening, even for an Uzumaki. I'm shocked that this Hokage was so good at it that he was able to use something like the _Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God)_ seals commonly in combat…Transportation Seals are incredibly tricky. I'm sure Naruto would like these techniques and they would be sure to make him unstoppable, but let him learn some more before we get into that. Perhaps when he's a chuunin preparing for his jounin exam."

"I see…I suppose that is for the best." Hiruzen nodded.

"With regards to his inheritance, I'm sure those funds would be best placed in the clan treasury of the Uzumaki. That way, it continues to be his birthright. But that is not my biggest concern…"

Hiruzen looked at his friend with some awareness of where he was going with this.

"You've got a village on your hands that don't know who the Uzumaki are, but are going to be made aware of the edition of the clan leger. Yet, they are aware of the former troublemaker that was more than happy to proclaim who he was while wreaking havoc on the entire village and its population. After the villagers get over their rage, they're going to come after you wondering why." Houji said, folding his arms.

Hiruzen looked down at his desk and rubbed his chin, confirming that this was worth giving thought for.

"You'll have to tell them about the Uzumaki, or you'll have to tell the entire village about his heritage. The former…well, I don't see why they would care, frankly. Sure, our family and this village may have worked together at the time of its inception, but three wars have passed since then and the Uzumaki have been all but wiped out. The latter…Now, that would fix everything. But, word would get out to the enemies of the Fourth far faster." Houji dictated with considerable wisdom.

"You've definitely given this plenty of thought. The representative of the villagers in the Council will not let this go unspoken toward the villagers either. So there is no hiding this. We will have to tell the village the truth and then, sequentially, bolster our defenses." the Hokage said, his voice growing more weary as he realized that everything, including the politics with other nations, would change within a few days.

"Hey, don't be so down. This should give the lazy ninja in this place something to do." Houji said with a smile.

Hiruzen looked at him with an expression that signified both amusement at his quip and also annoyance that his friend was not taking this seriously.

"I need a drink." he said with noticeable fatigue.

"Let's go get one. You can tell me about Jiraiya's newest romance novel. I know you got a copy in advance." Houji said, getting up and walking out of the room. The Hokage sat for a while, seemingly in thought, before getting up and following his friend.

* * *

Meanwhile, at a training field, the young couple decided to have a quick spar before heading off to their respective homes. Naruto had been feeling some fatigue after feeling the clones that he had left working start to run out of chakra and dispel, and he wanted to do some physical training so that he would fully work both his chakra and his body.

"Alright, Hinata, get ready." Naruto said with a large grin, getting into a fighting stance.

Hinata entered her own fighting stance, activating her _dojutsu (eye technique)_ wordlessly. She was almost caught off guard by Naruto's increase in speed, but recalled from their first spar that he was a lot faster than he let on. Now knowing the identity of his father, he may have been faster than an ordinary genin by blood.

She brought her hand up to parry the incoming palm strike from Naruto. The boy spun around and threw a kick at her with significant force, prompting her to close her arms in front of her to prevent significant damage. When the kick connected with her guard, she had to jump backwards to distribute the force. She looked at Naruto, who returned to his fighting stance and then she noticed the significant pain building around her arms. Her vision allowed her to check her arms, but still keep track of Naruto. The results were shocking. A bruise had already begun forming; her skin showed the signs of growing blue. If that kick had connected, she may have very well been incapacitated. Now she understood the power in the Hagaude fighting style. It fit Naruto exactly, after all. The style was completely unrefined, but at the same time, it had organization. It's purpose is to force the opponent to guard. But in doing so, they would take damage to the limbs that they guarded with until, finally, their guard was forcibly broken through. Hinata shuddered. It was like taking on a battering ram. Fortunately, the movements were so organized that his movements were predictable.

As she got sent to the ground by a shoulder tackle, though, she made another realization. This Uzumaki was incredibly fast. His movements are so quick that, normally, it wouldn't be possible for the untrained eye to prepare a guard.

Luckily, she was trained in the Juuken style. She bounced up and jabbed at his shoulder with her finger.

"Dammit." he said as he jumped back.

Hinata gave chase, knowing that she had an advantage, and managed to cut him off, jabbing him twice more. He attempted to fight her in close-range, using his one arm to provide some defense, but as he threw a punch, he noticed that the tips of Hinata's fingers were glowing blue.

"2 Palms!" she cried.

Naruto's instincts took over, as he realized that she was utilizing what the Hyuuga fighting style was most known for – momentum. He crouched and tried to sweep her knees, but Hinata's vision was just too good. She jumped over his leg and shot 4 quick shots at his exposed back.

"4 Palms!"

The blond battery could feel his power leaving him as his body refused to acknowledge his commands. With what little control he did have, he decided to take a risk, knowing the next attack would probably end this spar. As she approached with another palm, he shot out his arm and grabbed hers, stopping her relentless assault. Or so he thought.

The violet-haired heiress turned into his grab and shot her palm out towards his face, placing him in a checkmate position.

The two remained in a standstill, with Hinata noticeably exhausted and Naruto noticeably in pain.

"You got me good…" Naruto said with a smile. "Good fight."

Hinata dropped to her knees and panted. Her hunger for air overrode the fact that Naruto was still holding onto her arm. The sun had begun to set as she finally caught her breath. Naruto, however, lost his when Hinata put a hand through her hair and fully extended her arm to shake the sweat off her purple locks. He stared at her hair glowing in the sun and tried to wrap his mind around what he was feeling at this moment. He couldn't explain it. Houji had told him months ago that the conversation that Naruto and Hinata had about their feelings months ago had effectively changed their relationship status, but he had no idea what that change brought to the dynamics of their friendship.

Hinata noticed that he was staring at her with a blush and also that he was still holding her arm.

"W-What is it, Naruto-kun." she said as she tried to hide under her bangs.

Naruto let go and rubbed the back of his head, laughing.

"I was just thinking…" he began, but was cut off by Hinata applying quick strikes to open his tenketsu.

"Yes?" she asked.

Naruto had difficulty looking down into her beautiful eyes without forgetting what he was going to say.

"What does it mean that you're my girlfriend?"

Hinata's blush came back in full force as she grasped her cheeks with both her palms.

"I'm n-not too sure myself." she said with a soft voice. "Let's just see where it goes."

Naruto nodded.

Suddenly, the large brush on his back began to glow; the symbol of the Uzumaki that was near the top took a white hue.

"W-What's going on?!" Naruto shouted, standing up at attention.

When he removed the brush from his back, a light engulfed both himself and Hinata.

The mysterious winds of the coming night flowed through the trees in the training field and around the orb of light, causing an unsettling hum. As the bright orb of light dimmed and the orange glow of the setting sun took over, neither Naruto, nor Hinata could be found in the spot that they once occupied.

~CHAPTER END~

* * *

 **A/N:** Aaaadventure Time! But only for a little bit.


	4. Acceptance

**A/N:** Hello and welcome to the fourth chapter in my (hopefully) interesting story. Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating it today. I figured I would bring this chapter out today for my fans to enjoy after they stuff themselves at the table. There's a lot going on in this chapter as thanks for sticking through that cliffhanger that I so willingly left in Chapter 3. You may recognize a piece of this story that did not occur until way later in the series, canonically. You'll see why I do this later...I do intend to write this story for the long-term.

I would also like to say that I am still looking for a beta. If anyone is interested, please let me know through PM. Thanks and enjoy.

* * *

 **Acceptance**

Naruto quickly scanned his surroundings, finding that he did not recognize anything, but could hear the distinct sound of running water. Hinata was right next to him, Byakugan active, watching for any signs of movement in the dark area.

"Naruto-kun, we are underground in a building somehow. I can see the surface a few yards upward. There are pillars knocked down everywhere."

"Let's find some stairs or something then. Maybe we'll find out where we are if we can see." Naruto guessed as he held his hand out for Hinata to take. She took it eagerly, relishing in the safety that she felt from the boy's presence.

Hinata continued to scan the surrounding area, but quickly realized that something had been distorting her vision within the room. When she informed Naruto, he decided that they should walk around the room and perhaps find lighting. After a few minutes of careful walking, the two found the wall of the room and decided to follow it around, knowing that a door or something would have to make itself evident at some point. It did not take long for them to find exactly what they were looking for in a stairway. However, the blond boy was hesitant after spotting something that very few outside of Konoha should know about.

"There's one of my clan's seals on this wall…no way…" he said with immense disbelief.

He even recognized the design from one of the various books on advanced sealing that he had read.

Hinata, this seal is probably the root of you not being able to see in here. It's a chakra storage seal. It's meant to throw off people like sensor ninja…But what is it doing here…"

Naruto rubbed away a part of the seal, breaking it instantly. The heiress immediately gained awareness of where she was, as a result.

"We're in some kind of chamber…I don't know what it is for, but I don't want to stay here."

The unfamiliar territory was starting to take its toll on the young woman. Naruto squeezed her hand to reassure herd pulled her up the stairs. Each step echoed off the surrounding walls. The sound of rushing water grew stronger with each step that they took. Eventually, they reached the top of the staircase, only to find that they were still inside this bunker-like structure.

"Dammit…where the hell are we…"

"Naruto-kun look!" Hinata exclaimed, pointing forward.

Naruto turned to see that she had spotted a mural on the wall. The quality of the piece would have been the most incredible part if the six orange whirlpools flanking all sides of the mural were not present. Naruto stepped forward, his black jacket making him almost invisible in the darkness. Hinata looked at him and then back at the mural.

In it was a sequential story. To the right of one of the whirlpools was an image of three symbols.

"Th-Those are the symbols of Iwagakure, Kumogakure and Sunagakure!" Hinata gasped, putting the pieces together with help from her years of political instruction. The only time that those villages allied was the Third Shinobi War. She followed an arrow leading from the first picture to the next, which showed Iwa and Kumo seemingly moving through small whirlpools to reach some point in the center, marked by fire. The next picture, now at the top of the mural, was just a gigantic flame with the three symbols surrounding it. Following that one was the most familiar symbol appearing onto the scene.

"Konoha…?" Naruto whispered to himself while trying to interpret what was going on.

All he saw was Konoha's symbol in front of a slowly diminishing fire. The fifth image was the most strange. Konoha's symbol had vanished and multiple black dots were surrounding the small fire. There was no last picture to complete the cycle. But Naruto found himself looking at the cycle again and again, wondering what it could mean. Hinata remained quiet, waiting for the blond's next move. She already formed a conclusion as to what this was, given what she knew. And if her suspicion was correct, she also knew where they were.

"I don't understand this…Anyway, we need to find a way out of here. This place is starting to bother me for some reason." Naruto said with a grimace.

"The exit is that way." Hinata said with an unusual lack of life.

Naruto nodded and quickly led Hinata through the dark room to another staircase. She could see the twilight shining down the stairs, partially lighting the surrounding walls. As they walked up, the sound of rushing water grew even stronger, but seemed to peak after the group of two reached the surface.

"What…?" Naruto whispered.

Hinata looked to the side and bit her lip as she spotted yet another whirlpool symbol on a destroyed pillar. She spotted many of those destroyed pillars surrounding the entrance to the bunker that they were in. Now she was certain.

"Naruto-kun…this is…"

He squeezed her hand and looked back at her, his eyes telling her that he already understood; even someone as slow as him could understand when pictures had laid it out for him. This was the home of his family.

"Uzushiogakure…" he said softly.

The site of the wreckage that was once the cornerstone of the Uzumaki clan several years before he was born had left an immediate feeling of powerlessness in the young boy.

"Konoha tried to save them but was too late…Suna was probably holding them off while Iwa and Kumo…So that's why we have a strained relationship with Suna..."

Naruto remained silent and looked over to the source of the rushing water to see a whirlpool increasing in size to his right. He walked towards it, but stopped when he saw markings on the ground beneath him. The young boy soon figured out that this was a portion of a bigger seal after recognizing some of the symbols. He could not tell what kind of seal it was, but he noticed that the arrays were pointing towards a central point, like all seals do. The fact that it was still active meant that there was some source of chakra present. Naruto immediately formed approximately 20 Kage Bunshin.

"Search." he said, knowing that his clones knew exactly what he was looking for. They silently nodded and went their own ways, cleaning up the rubble expediently. Naruto's knowledge of construction work absolutely came in handy, as the clones teamed up to move larger objects. Hinata looked at the stone-faced boy that she loved, her heart breaking at realizing what he was going through. It must have been as if he was feeling the despair of everyone that had died here. She did not want him to feel alone. The girl squeezed his hand, drawing his attention to her unwavering eyes. The boy's expression eventually cracked to one of immense sadness and he merely looked down, unable to shed tears for the people that he did not know, but apologetic for their plight. Hinata had never seen him like this, even when he was at his loneliest. She gripped the back of his neck, and pulled, forcing him forward into her waiting embrace. The girl felt his hesitant arms become resolutely attached to her waist, causing her to blush at the intimacy. But she was somewhat surprised when Naruto pushed her away. The boy smiled at her, wordlessly thanking her for her presence, but then turned away from her and observed his clones working diligently and quickly.

"Come on. Let's look around." Naruto said, not willing to dwell on the sadness of the moment any longer.

Hinata nodded and scanned the area with her all seeing eyes.

"This place is a little weird…It's as if I'm sensing the leftover chakra from the war, but that was almost 10 years before we were even born…" Hinata said with a hint of curiosity.

"Maybe it's all the seals." Naruto reasoned. "I don't understand what's powering them."

Suddenly, Naruto snapped his head toward the smoke cloud that his clone had created upon being destroyed.

"We've got trouble…" Naruto said, gritting his teeth and placing his hand on his Jinsei. All of his clones snapped to attention after realizing that they were being attacked and ran toward the smoke cloud.

Hinata stood in front of Naruto as he removed his smaller brush, knowing exactly what her role was in this temporary squad. Naruto had begun drawing a seal that he knew on his hand. He then stopped upon seeing the figure that had emerged from the smoke.

The figure was a male with striking purple eyes and long red hair, tied in a ponytail that was held together by a white bead. He wore distinct body armor that looked like it was befitting of a samurai from _Tetsu no Link (Land of Iron)_. On top of it, he had a white haori that exposed his forearms, one of which was bandaged. The man had a line of black paint that stretched from his ear, through his eyes, and to the other ear. His ensemble was completed with a black hakama that was bound at his ankles. He didn't look too unlike Naruto, Hinata noticed immediately.

"Who are you and why have you come to these ruins?" he said with a calm voice.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" one of the clones sbouted.

"We don't know why we're here. My weapon transported us here." the original said with a loud voice and his hand outstretched, pointing the seal towards him.

The man's eyes widened and he relaxed.

"The Uzumaki live on…" he said with a laugh. "My apologies, Naruto. I too share your blood."

Naruto furrowed his brow and tried to read the strange man's face. Hinata, for once, was thankful that Naruto wasn't trusting of strangers, or she might have had to save him from a sticky trap.

"Were you the one that brought us here?" she said maintaining her stance.

"Indeed. Relax, young Hyuuga." the armored man said. "I am Uzumaki Seito. I was a child when these grounds were destroyed. I had returned here to harvest any documents that may have been left behind."

"Show me a seal of yours." Naruto asked. "Houjiji told me that an Uzumaki can perform our family jutsu without risk to themselves."

"Of course, well, the jutsu I used to get you here was an Uzumaki-based jutsu that can be used by any of us to channel chakra through our Jinsei and bring us here. I edited the seal to allow me to do that with any Uzumaki currently wielding an unsealed brush. It looks like you were the only one. This massive seal you see on the floor is the array required to activate the technique. And I'm sure your Hyuuga friend can see that the chakra coming from the seal is mine."

Naruto looked at Hinata and she nodded.

"Then why did we end up underground?" Naruto asked.

"Underground…?" he asked with a hand on his chin. "My guess would be that the Uzumaki designed a seal in that certain spot to move any Uzumaki that was using this seal to go back home to a safe location during the war. So they wouldn't be caught in a hairy situation."

"If you were here the whole time, why couldn't I see you?" Hinata asked.

"A simple chakra masking seal would do the trick for your eyes. And I also cloaked myself with a camouflage seal." he said, pointing to the seal on his bandaged forearm. "It beats other masking techniques, in my own opinion."

Naruto relaxed and cracked a smile.

"That does sound pretty cool." Naruto said as he ran over to where his clones were gathered.

After he was a few feet in front of him, he noticed that he was holding a Jinsei of his own and was certain that this was an Uzumaki.

"I assume that I took you two from Konoha since you have a Hyuuga with you." he said with a smile.

"Yeah. How do I get back to where I was?" Naruto asked.

"That's a good question. You know, Uzushiogakure and Konohagakure are not incredibly far off. How about I take you back personally after my business is done here."

Naruto folded his arms and closed his eyes in concentration.

"Wait, you used a seal without knowing how to reverse its effects?"

Seito put his hand behind his head and laughed. Hinata, who had caught up with Naruto a few seconds ago had stared at the man and realized that all Uzumaki must have the same grin.

"Yeah, I guess I did. Theoretically, someone else just needs to use the seal in Konoha to move you back." Anyway, the reason I had used the seal in the first place was to bring any surviving Uzumaki from the war to this place. They would be of great help. I've been here for three days with no luck."

"Well…that's because all the texts are in the Uzumaki district in Konoha. Everything that could be saved was sealed up and he took it with him." Naruto said.

Seito slapped himself on the forehead.

"Of course. Why didn't I think of that?"

"You don't seem to do a lot of thinking at all." Naruto said with a friend. Hinata merely looked at Naruto when he said that, finding it completely ironic that the most hard-headed boy in the village would accuse someone else of not thinking before acting.

"Perhaps you're right. Anyway, we should get going then."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the man again, wondering if it was safe to bring him to Konoha, but he couldn't find a reason as to why he wouldn't be. The man had stopped attacking the two the moment he realized that they meant no harm and he even offered to take them back to Konoha. Naruto looked at Hinata, who didn'tseem to have anything to say about the comment.

"Alright." Naruto confirmed.

"It's night, so we should probably camp and head out in the morning. But not here. I believe I speak for both of us when I say this is not the place that two of us should be sleeping in for now."

Naruto nodded.

"I'm glad you brought me here. I'm going to rebuild this place someday."

"I'll join you." Seito said with a confident smile. "Let's go. I know a place we can camp…" he began before recognizing a strange sight.

There we several individuals coming their way. Seito saw that they had purple ropes around their waists and odd grey pants with black spots. He counted five men that were holding kunai.

"These people, on the other hand, are imposters." Seito said, turning his Jinsei towards the intruders. He ran toward them, leaving Naruto and Hinata to decide what they should do. The two children looked toward each other and nodded.

Naruto created more clones and ran toward the rope-clad men. He noticed that Seito was far faster than he was, already reaching the two of the men before Naruto was even halfway. When Naruto arrived to the battlefield, he shot an elbow out toward the person coming at Seito from behind. He noticed the strange mark on the headband on the enemy ninja which looked like a note. The ninja recovered after the blow and shot a kick out at Naruto, which the boy expertly dodged, followed by a kunai. Seito, who was fighting nearby, shot a kunai of his own to protect Naruto. The blond was surprised that his kin was so aware of everything going on on the battlefield, but he supposed that that was due to experience. When he turned his attention, towards his opponent, he noticed that he had his hands clasped together.

" _Oto Shuuha! (Sound Wave)"_ he shouted, shooting his hand toward Naruto.

Although Naruto didn't see anything, he heard a shrill sound growing louder. Instinctively, he dove to the floor and covered his ears. When the attack had finally reached him, he felt a sharp pain in both of his ears. The ninja that had fired the attack ran toward the prone boy only to be stopped by two clones. More came, followed by Seito, who had already defeated his opponent. The clones, even with their inexperience in their taijutsu, were able to do significant damage, but when Seito came, sailing through the air and twirling his Jinsei as if it were a staff, the battle swiftly ended. Naruto got up and found that he had difficulty balancing, but the more important thing was Hinata's safety. He looked around and realized that he had lost sight of her when he rushed forward into battle. He silently recalled that he had been faster than her and might have left her behind. The sight of her being carted off by two of the ninja shocked him out of his thoughts. In fact, he felt his body growing lighter as he prepared to give chase. Seito ran after the two ninja with incredible speed. But the red-haired Uzumaki did not expect Naruto to be at his side, nor did he expect the blond to pass him while flying through hand seals.

One of the ninja noticed the strangely speedy boy and turned around to stop him only to get passed by when he stopped. It was clear that the boy did not consider him a threat, something that angered the ninja greatly. But before he could do anything, Seito took advantage of him not paying attention and ended him with a swift strike to the neck with his brush. The clones had kept going on, in an attempt to catch up to their creator, but Seito knew how this would end after seeing Naruto's body glow with chakra, the sign that he had properly executed an Uzumaki fuinjutsu.

" _Uzumaki Fuin: Wana no Hyaku Uzu (Trap of One-Hundred Whirlpools)!"_

Naruto stopped and slammed his fist into the floor causing a seal to be generated from the center. The ninja suddenly stopped. He could feel his fear growing, but he had absolutely no idea what was going on. He felt like a hand had reached out and grabbed around his body. Seito and the other clones had also been under the effects of the seal, noticing that the array reached extremely far out; a testament to how much chakra he used. Naruto looked at the ninja that he trapped, feeling a strange rage come over him.

" _Yes…Kill him! Kill him now!"_

Naruto felt himself slipping into that strange rage as he ran forward, his glowing body slowly changing in hue from blue to red.

Seito frowned, not understanding what was going on, but the clones around him were dispelling with each second that passed. He began to channel his chakra and focused on breaking the chakra-based trap. Once he had been freed from the trap, after offering a silent prayer for understanding Uzumaki seals, he began swinging his brush around, striking the brush along the array and breaking it partially.

"Naruto!" Seito shouted at seeing the chakra begin to envelop the boy.

Naruto seemed to be in a different world, which began to frighten Seito slightly. He looked at the area of the array that he had erased and began to draw a new design over the seal. Naruto rose a clawed hand above his head, preparing to slice the heinous ninja in front of him, but found himself finding it more difficult for himself to move.

He turned around and noticed Seito with a blue aura around him and his hands in a seal.

"There are only a few seals that an Uzumaki can use that another Uzumaki cannot take control of." Seito said with a serious face. "But you must not have had the instruction to learn that yet."

Naruto growled at Seito. The older Uzumaki recognized that his eyes had turned color and he had grown fangs. Clearly, he was not himself, as he was about to attack the ninja holding Hinata.

The aforementioned girl had actually began to stir in the arms of the frozen ninja that had knocked her out and tried to make off with her. Slowly, she regained her bearings and, once she had her wits about her, her eyes snapped open and she quickly jabbed the arms of the man that was holding her. Upon breaking free from his loose grasp, she jumped off him and landed, facing him in her stance. However, she found that he was merely staring at her angrily instead of trying to attack her. Why wasn't he moving? On that note, why wasn't she able to move? Her body felt sluggish and she had actually felt herself becoming frozen in place.

Seito ran over to her and stood in front of her, staring at the ninja.

"Who are you and where do you hail from?" Seito said, threateningly. He pulled out a sword that was hidden behind his white jacket and immediately sliced the ninja's cheek. "I am usually patient. However, this case is different. I will not tolerate your desecration of these grounds. Speak!"

The shout made the ninja visibly shake.

"Oto…I come from _Otogakure (Village Hidden in Sound)_!" he said quickly.

Seito squinted his eyes and lowered his sword to the man's throat. Despite only being able to see his eyes through his head-mask, Seito could tell that he had frightened the man significantly.

"We were sent to these ruins to bring back anything we could find on the Uzumaki."

"You were sent by whom…?" Seito said.

Suddenly, a roar was heard from behind the man. The next thing that anybody knew, the Oto shinobi dropped to the floor; his head was severed cleanly off his shoulders by a vicious clawed hand that looked as if it was composed by chakra. Seito's eyes widened and he immediately dropped into a fighting stance. Naruto's immense, foreign chakra was leaking off him in waves, which ultimately broke the fuinjutsu entirely, freeing Hinata from the seal and cutting Seito's hold over the seal. The boy still seemed under the effects of the seal, not realizing that he had been freed from the invisible prison.

Hinata and Seito both stared at the boy, watching his form change, noticing that his skin was growing redder and three, menacing tails were swinging behind him. Seito immediately got to work. He swung his brush around, and dashed around Hinata, creating a circle. Then, he sheathed his brush and began flipping through multiple seals. He slammed his hand on the floor, causing an array to form and extend. The seal glowed blue, before turning black.

"Stay where you are." Seito said, talking to Hinata with urgency. She was in no rush to move, but strangely, she didn't feel the danger that Seito did.

He continued flipping through more seals and slammed his hands together. Seal arrays formed themselves on his hands, which he stuck out toward Naruto.

" _Chakra Fuin! (Chakra Seal)_ " he shouted, channeling more chakra onto his hands.

The growling boy began making inhuman noises in response and it appeared as if his chakra was being disrupted. Seito felt sweat grow on his brow at the amount of focus that this was taking him. Hinata noticed that the red chakra was being absorbed by something on Naruto's back.

"Almost done…" Seito whispered. Naruto shot out a claw at Seito, which seemed to extend far beyond Naruto's wingspan, and hit some kind of invisible wall. The wall absorbed even more of his chakra, making Naruto resound his beastly wail.

A few seconds after the attack, Naruto lowered his stance and fell to the floor. After seeing that the boy was incapacitated, Seito took a knee and cut his chakra, deactivating all of his seals. Once he caught his breath, he walked over to the boy and checked on him. The experienced warrior lifted the boy and removed his jacket and shirt to find that he had been branded with a seal on his back, which begun. He saw Hinata looking over his shoulder with worry.

"I applied this seal to him when I ran over to you. Do not worry, he is fine. But tell me…" he said, turning fully to Hinata. "…Is this boy a jinchuuriki?"

Hinata looked down at the ground, wondering if she should divulge that information. But after she spotted the pool of blood near the separated head of the invading ninja, she nodded quickly, and proceeded to the contents of her stomach at a safe distance away. Seito turned his attention back to the boy. After putting his shirt back on and folding up his jacket so that he could lay on it, he flipped the boy over onto his back and lifted his shirt quickly to see a complicated, but familiar-looking seal.

" _Shiki Fujiin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)!?"_ he thought to himself. _"This is an Uzumaki technique…did a master of seals manage to make it to Konoha?"_

Seito frowned and put his shirt back down. The boy began to wake up shortly after.

"Hello, Naruto." Seito said with a smile.

The boy responded with a groan and turned to his side to look at Seito. As his memories caught up with him, he jolted up with a start.

"Hinata!" he screamed.

The girl looked over at him from her position and ran over to him.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked.

Naruto grabbed his head and grit his teeth.

Seito noted that what was happening to Naruto must have been the bijuu within him reacting to the drastically reduced amount of chakra.

"Naruto. You need to listen to me." Seito said. "You lost control of whatever tailed beast that you contain."

"How do you…" he began, only to be interrupted by a hand.

"That seal will not contain that foul chakra for long. You are going to need to transfer that chakra into your body, or you may go into a rampage again when the seal wears out." Seito said, boring his purple eyes into Naruto.

"W-What? What rampage? What seal?!" Naruto said, noticeably disturbed. He looked around for the seal that the man was talking about, but could not find it.

"Do not worry about where this seal is. Listen. You must communicate with your bijuu at this point and harness this chakra. Think of it as a prize that both you and the tailed beast within you wants. He will most likely attempt to fight you for it. However, you must convince him to let you have it. Now, relax. This must be dealt with immediately."

Seito sat down in front of Naruto and crossed his legs.

"Sit like this. And give me a second to prepare. I have not practiced this seal at all." he said as he began to flip through seals.

Naruto was confused, but slowly got into the position that Seito had mentioned. The boy just stared at Seito.

Seito slammed his hand on the floor when done and a seal extended around the two Uzumaki.

" _Souin no Fukou (Temple of Sorrow)."_ he whispered. "Naruto. I need you to focus. Has your tailed beast spoken to you before?"

"I…" Naruto whispered. "I think so. I remember him yelling at me when Hinata was getting kidnapped."

"That means you two already have a link. I need you to close your eyes and focus on communicating with them. The seal that I just used is one that links your consciousness and mine. When the state of your mind changes, I will be there with you."

"You can do that?"

"Yes, this was a seal that the Uzumaki used for interrogation of prisoners. But enough of that, close your eyes."

Naruto did so and waited.

"Focus…search your mind…"

Naruto did so, not knowing exactly what he was looking for, but after meditating for ten minutes, Naruto found himself growing deaf to the sound of raging whirlpools. Instead he heard the sound of a single water drop striking the floor.

Naruto opened his eyes, no longer feeling his soreness and looked around. He was a little shocked at not finding Seito anywhere. However, the most surprising thing was that he was no longer in Uzushio, but what appeared to be an extremely dark aqueduct or sewer. He looked around again, with the new information, and found that he was in the middle of a four way fork. That did not seem to throw the boy off, as he felt someone's presence coming from behind him. He followed that path, hearing only dripping water and his own footsteps. Within seconds, he could feel his feet sinking into water, as if he were going deeper into the proverbial muck. But he never sank fully under. The gigantic gate that made itself evident in front of him made him wish that he could cower.

The boy eyed his surroundings once again, noting that Seito had made it here before he did and was keeping a far distance away.

"Where are we?" Naruto asked.

"I can address that, brat."

Naruto jumped at the sudden, booming voice coming from the inside of the cage. A large presence made itself known to Naruto very slowly. But despite the massive size of the beast's face, Naruto found his eyes locked on the red orbs staring him down. Naruto could have sworn he felt himself further sinking into the dark waters at his feet, when in actuality, he had not moved.

"Your fear is understandable…If I weren't in this cage, I would have already torn you apart."

Naruto grit his teeth.

"I was just surprised at how huge you were! I'm not afraid of you. I'm not the one in a cage, after all." Naruto said.

The beast growled in response. He would not stoop to the child's level, but the comment did make him upset.

"So you're the Kyuubi." Seito said.

"And you're another Uzumaki. Your accursed clan has been directly and indirectly responsible for the imprisonment of bijuu for centuries." the beast said with noticeable anger.

"Wouldn't you just destroy everybody if you were allowed to be free?" Seito asked.

"Bah! Human ignorance." the Kyuubi leaned forward, making him appear even larger. "We are natural beings! Your feeble human existence practically mandates that you die after nearly a century, without our intervention. You merely prevent us from roaming and acting on our will. It was never our desire to harm humanity! But you are afraid of us…and so you lock us up in these cages…"

Naruto furrowed his brow.

"Then why did you destroy Konoha? I can't believe anything you say just because you killed all of those people." the blond said.

"How dare you?!" the Kyuubi yelled. "I have existed for thousands of your lifetimes. You don't have the place to doubt my word."

"All I've said was the truth." Naruto said, clenching his fists tighter. "You've lived inside me since my birth and you know what you've done to those people. They took it out on me daily, and, you know…"

Naruto stepped forward so that he was right in front of the cage. His feet no longer felt as if they were dragging through muck, but he was standing on top of it. The Kyuubi was slightly surprised that the blond held no fear.

"They're right for it." Naruto concluded, staring at the Kyuubi's red eyes.

"Your righteousness is a lie, boy." he said in a low, but threatening voice. "You hold hate within you. You want to lash out at them, just like you did with that ninja that threatened your teacher's life."

Naruto was silent as he looked into the dark cage. Suddenly, he saw another person in the cage. When it spoke, both Seito and Naruto recoiled.

"Of course." he said. "With all of the power and hatred we contain, why wouldn't he want to slaughter each and every one of those idiots?"

Footsteps could be heard coming from inside the cage. As he walked out of the cage, much to the surprise of both Uzumaki, the face of the fourth member of the conversation was revealed.

"Who are you?!" Naruto yelled.

"I am you." the boy with contrasting eyes spoke. "I am the you that you hide; your stronger, less restricted half."

Naruto was speechless after those comments. He laid his eyes on the doppelganger, who seemed to be far more relaxed than he was.

"Naruto, it's him." Seito said. "He's the one in control of the sealed chakra – the manifestation of the Kyuubi's evil and your own darkness."

Naruto looked at Seito and then back at his darker clone before getting into a fighting stance.

"Then I've gotta beat this guy to get that chakra." Naruto said, bringing his hands up into a seal.

"Naruto, wait!"

" _Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)!"_ Naruto yelled, creating seventy clones.

The evil Naruto smiled, and waved his hand, dispelling all of the clones immediately.

"Now, now, relax. I just want to talk. But if you're going to make this messy, then I'll just trap you in here and take your body for a joyride in Konoha." the corrupted boy said. "Perhaps I'll start with _our_ girlfriend, hm?"

Naruto twitched at the emphasis, and felt himself growing angrier. The Kyuubi looked at him and smiled. Seito noted this and knew that he would have to intervene.

"Naruto! He's preying on your anger! Relax! We'll fight him together, but you need to be calm!"

The evil boy looked at Seito with a frown and red eyes.

"No you won't. Why don't you just get out of here?" he said, raising his hand and making a shooing motion.

Seito immediately vanished.

Naruto stared at the spot that Seito was.

"You don't have time to worry about him. You barely even know the guy! What you need to be worried about is what I'm going to do to all of those 'innocent people'. Come on, you know that even those closest to you talk behind your back about you, right? The people that are supposedly your allies would be glad to see you fall. That's how this world works!" the dark Naruto said with glee.

Naruto grit his teeth.

"Shut up!" Naruto said. The Kyuubi's eyes widened with happiness at seeing Naruto unconsciously draw on his chakra.

"I bet Uzushio fell because Konoha let them. Why don't we ask that old Hokage of ours before we kill him?"

Seito snapped back into his consciousness and looked at Naruto with immense worry. What had he just done? As he tried to look for a solution, he realized that this could potentially be the end of Naruto and everyone. But it could also be potentially gratuitous. If Naruto managed to beat his darker persona, he would be one step closer to being like the jinchuuriki who are able to communicate and share in the power of their bijuu.

Hinata looked at Seito wake up, and recalled that their consciousnesses were supposed to be linked. When he woke up, but Naruto didn't she started to worry. Seito looked at her and could only remain stoic at her helpless stare back toward him.

This battle was up to Naruto.

…

Or so it should have been.

Seito sensed that Naruto was drawing upon the foul energy that he had just sealed.

"No…" Seito whispered, as he watched the chakra leak from the seal that he applied and covered Naruto, bringing him into the state that he was in before. However, Naruto did not move.

"He must be fighting, right now." Seito said to Hinata. "But if he keeps drawing on the chakra, he is going to lose control of himself; he will become the Kyuubi completely."

Naruto laid on his stomach, unmoving after he had been harshly beaten by his dark form. Both of the boys had three chakra tails flowing behind them, however, only one of them looked like they would come out of this match alive.

The dark Naruto had a grin, confidently folding his arms and staring down at his more pure half. The nearly defeated Uzumaki looked up at his manifested evil and felt helpless and hopeless. How long have they been fighting? It must have been 30 minutes, but it could have been 1 minute, 1 hour or 1 day.

"You done?" dark Naruto asked.

"How…How are you so in control?" Naruto responded.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Actually, I'll tell you. Kyuubi here is not as mean as you think. He'll work with you, so long as you let him have his fun whenever he wants and let him use your body."

"Like hell!" Naruto said, getting up.

"But, you're already doing it…Look at you. Did you ever notice your form? The claws and fangs that I have are the same ones you have. Doesn't all that power feel wonderful?"

Naruto looked at his hands, realizing just what was happening. The two boys had amassed the same level of power and he was forcing Naruto to draw onto more. He wouldn't have any chance at this rate, because this guy clearly had full control of the Kyuubi's power. So then what would happen if he took the Kyuubi out of the equation?

Naruto breathed slowly, calming himself, and feeling the hatred of the Kyuubi subside.

"Well, well, it looks like you figured something out for once...But you still can't beat me." the evil Naruto taunted.

Naruto stared at him, analyzing his opponent. After fighting him for so long, it was extremely clear that he couldn't win this fight. Everything that he threw at the evil copy was countered. And it seemed like his opponent only wanted one thing – for him to submit to the Kyuubi. But why?

" _I am the you that you hide; your stronger, less restricted half."_

Naruto's eyes widened. He realized that it wasn't true. They were on an even playing field. That's why he wasn't dead yet. The only reason that this evil persona hadn't killed him yet, despite his ample opportunities was…

"You need me…" Naruto whispered.

The dark Naruto twitched, but then smiled. However, it was too late – Naruto had already seen the loss of composure. He stared at the red-eyed boy with his now blue-eyes.

"Hah! Why would I ever need you?"

"I'm in control." Naruto said with a growing smirk. "You want to make me you, not take over my body."

The dark Naruto became angrier.

"You might be a part of me that I would rather hide, but I hide you because you're bad. I don't believe that the world needs more hatred."

"N-No!" the evil persona said with resistance. "You'll never control the power of the Kyuubi without harnessing your own hatred!"

"Then I don't need his stupid power." Naruto said with his trademarked determination empowering his words.

Suddenly, the chakra of the persona began to leak.

"Stop! You're making a mistake by rejecting the Kyuubi! You can't run from your hate."

Naruto remained silent and watched his evil side practically disintegrate.

"I'm not running from it." he said as he walked toward him. Once he reached him, he extended his arms and wrapped them around the evil boy.

"I accept it." he finished.

The dark Naruto's eyes widened as he was held by his counterpart. Naruto's resolve was proven by his action, leaving no more room for argument. The red-eyed boy could not help but grin as tears fell down his face. He would no longer be hidden, as if he was an embarrassment. Instead, he would fight alongside Naruto, making both of them even stronger. With that thought, he vanished. The chakra that composed the being flowed into Naruto, but the boy did not feel as if he was being filled with hatred like before. Instead, he felt overwhelming strength. The power flowed through him, filling every corner of his body until it overflowed. The blond was slightly shocked upon seeing that his body was ignited with chakra, turning his entire form a golden yellow. But just as quickly as it appeared, it left him. The Uzumaki was dumbfounded with regards to what just happened, but he remembered where he was, and looked into the cage to see the Kyuubi silently watching him. Naruto looked at him with the same determination that he had before.

"You saw me conquer my hatred. And if you won't change, then I'm coming after the hatred that's inside you too."

The Kyuubi slowly stopped bearing his teeth and grinned.

"And what makes you think that you can do that?"

Naruto turned around on his heel and immediately started walking away. But before he was out of sight, he turned his head to look at his tenant.

"Don't underestimate me." Naruto said with a seriousness that could shake even the most seasoned warrior. Indeed, the Kyuubi found himself slightly speechless at the courage that this boy showed. As the boy left and the nine-tailed fox lied down and closed his eyes, mulling over the events that just transpired. He could not help but think of his previous captor.

A nagging voice tugged at his mind. The hate-filled creature did not want to listen to it, but he could not help but heed its words and even agree with it.

" _It's not enough to just say it. Prove it. Show me that you are different than the rest of them."_

* * *

The blond boy jolted upward, looking around feverishly. He noticed that he was no longer in Uzushio, but a bed. Not only that, the surroundings looked a lot like his room in Konoha. As his mind caught up to his vision, he realized that he had ended up back in his room.

"What…?" Naruto said, silently.

He noticed his Jinsei to the side and, after sitting and thinking about it for 5 minutes, he realized that he must have been brought back by Houji using the same transportation fuinjutsu that Seito used. He quickly hopped out of bed, not even noticing that the soreness that he felt before was completely gone, and cleaned himself up. After handling his hygiene, he stopped at the stairs. He heard two individuals speaking.

"I see...Although, I cannot control Hinata's movements to and from school once she becomes a ninja and official adult, I wonder if I can ask you for a favor."

Naruto recognized this voice as Hyuuga Hiashi's.

"Of course."

And that one was clearly Houji.

"I wish for Naruto to become Hinata's guardian."

Naruto squinted his eyes.

"I believe you would be hard-pressed to find him not wanting to be. Hoh!" Houji said with a chuckle. "Perhaps you should tell him what his duties include personally."

Hiashi looked toward the stairs, knowing that Naruto was already there.

"You could use improvement on your stealth, Naruto." Hiashi said.

Naruto's spine stiffened at the tone that Hiashi used to address him and slowly walked down the stairs. Upon seeing Hiashi's usual stern face, Naruto felt himself beginning to sweat.

" _He's definitely mad that I put Hinata in danger…I'm so dead."_ he thought.

"Please, have a seat. We have business to discuss." Hiashi said, motioning toward the open chair at the head of the table.

When Naruto took the seat, he felt like he was in some kind of good cop-bad cop interrogation with one of the most prestigious clan heads looking at him without emotion, and a brand new clan head smiling at him.

"I have heard of your small adventure last night after Hinata had returned home after her curfew in various cuts and bruises." Hiashi said, interlocking his fingers in front of his face and staring at Naruto, making him even more nervous.

"However, you handled the situation extraordinarily according to what I heard from the other Uzumaki that was with you…"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly.

"S-Seito is in Konoha?" he said.

"Indeed. Both of you and my daughter returned here together." Hiashi informed.

"Seito is resting in another one of the houses. Good job on finding another Uzumaki, Naruto! He was more than willing to stay here after being offered a position in the Anbu last night. He will be leaving later in the day to bring his parents here from _Tetsu no Kuni (The Land of Iron)_. It appears that he had escaped the destruction of Uzushio and fled all the way to Tetsu. I'm surprised that the samurai allowed him to stay, but, now that he has a home, he figured that it was time to thank the samurai for their patronage and depart."

Hiashi cleared his throat.

"There is business that I must discuss with you. Seito had mentioned one thing in particular about last night. The ninja that you had fought were allied with Otogakure…" Hiashi said.

Naruto remained silent. He couldn't really remember who he was fighting last night. He supposed that he didn't really care when he was enraged.

"Otogakure is led by one of the vilest shinobi on this planet, Orochimaru. I hear that those ninja tried to kidnap Hinata, but you stopped them. You must understand. Those were most likely Jounin level ninja. Someone of your level should not have been able to defeat them. Of course, I assumed that Uzumaki Seito was the one who dealt with them. Yet he fervently disagreed, saying that you rushed forward and dealt that final blow. And it is because of this that I wish you ask you something very important." Hiashi said, taking a deep breath.

"I want to make the newly-established Uzumaki clan and the Hyuuga clan allies, starting today."

Naruto looked at Hiashi blankly. The man sighed, realizing that he forgot that Naruto had no political training whatsoever and didn't know what that means.

"It means that I intend for us to work together. To this effect, I wish to ask you if you would be willing to watch over Hinata and make sure that she remains safe."

"Of course I will." Naruto said without hesitation.

"Good." Hiashi stood up. "I will bring Hinata here where she will live with you for a week. She will report to the Hyuuga compound if anything…unsatisfactory happens. And if her stay is what we expect, we may take you under the care of the Hyuuga for a small time as well."

Naruto nodded and Hiashi walked himself to the door. The Hyuuga leader looked at the two before opening it.

"Congratulations on entering the Village Clan Registry." he said. "I have no doubt that, with the news of the Uzumaki returning to form in Konoha, others will eventually find their way here and your clan will flourish."

With that said, he opened the door, and closed it behind him. Houji laid his head on his hand and watched Naruto, counting down in his head from 3 to 0.

"Eh? Ehhh?!" Naruto exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table. Hiashi, who had remained outside the door, smirked before walking away.

"Hinata's living here?!"

Houji raised his hands to settle Naruto down.

"Relax, Naruto. I know you must be excited, but…"

"Excited?!" Naruto yelled. "I'm terrified! How did Hiashi get permission to send Hinata here for…who knows how long?! And why do I feel like every Hyuuga I see is going to want to kill me?!"

Houji chuckled.

"Naruto…This is a political gesture, nothing more than that. When the Hyuuga want Hinata to return to them, she will. This is a matter of trust. The Hyuuga might just be impressed that you and Seito were able to stop five jounin. But they might also want the power that you used…" Houji ended, looking at the boy with a serious expression.

"You had to use the power of the Kyuubi, didn't you?" he asked.

Naruto calmed down slowly and then nodded slowly. Naruto told him the entire story of how he couldn't remember anything after seeing Hinata being taken away and how he had managed to wrestle the portion of chakra that he used away from his hate-filled persona, who was under the influence of the Kyuubi. Houji digested the information and then came to a realization.

"So that is why you were unconscious when you were transported back to Konoha…" Houji said, stroking his chin.

Suddenly, he looked up.

"You have the Kyuubi's chakra running through you right now…That beast doesn't have ownership of that chakra anymore. You should be able to use it however you want!" Houji said, clapping his hands together once and smiling. "That could come in handy for some advanced seals in the future."

Naruto folded his arms and appeared to think deeply.

"But I don't feel any different…" Naruto said.

"That's probably because you don't have any kind of chakra control. It doesn't make a difference if you have access to the Kyuubi's chakra if you can't differentiate between its chakra and your own. You would probably end up accidentally burning through the Kyuubi's chakra if you managed to call upon it in a fight. Unfortunately, I am not the one that can teach you that kind of thing. Perhaps you will find a teacher for that sometime later."

Houji's face slowly went from one of happiness to pity.

"How did you feel? Going to Uzushiogakure's ruins?"

Naruto's face fell into one of silent recollection. That told Houji everything that he needed to know. After all, he had experienced the destruction of his home first-hand. He had felt helpless and weak. The elder got up and hugged his foster son, hoping to ward off those demons.

"We will rebuild. We're already bringing the Uzumaki back to Konoha. You have helped with that by bringing Seito here. Any Uzumaki that he knows will come here too. You heard what Hiashi said. So long as we're here, the Uzumaki will flourish once again." he said, looking into Naruto's eyes.

Naruto looked at him and nodded.

"I have already prepared breakfast. Go find Seito afterwards. He said that he wanted to speak with you."

Naruto looked over to the kitchen and noticed a warm bowl of rice with some soup and fish. With very little thought, he walked over and began to consume the food. Despite the now, awkward mood that surrounded the boy, as his thoughts drifted to being able to spend time with Hinata, he felt his mood improving. He was shocked that it had only taken 3 months for his life to change so drastically. He had even seen combat, although he didn't really do much. At least, he didn't think so. Now that his mind was on it, he wondered exactly why he couldn't remember anything after seeing Hinata kidnapped. He knew that he must have tapped into the power of the Kyuubi though. Perhaps he flew into some kind of blind rage, or maybe something happened that made him forget. Oh well…he just didn't know enough right now. And he doubted that his nine-tailed "friend" would be willing to talk to him about it. He didn't think he could just keep zapping in and out of consciousness either to talk to him all the time either.

Naruto ruffled his already unruly hair. There was just too much an 11 year old to think about. His meal had long since been completed, so he hopped out of the chair and ran past Houji on his way out.

"Naruto. There is no need to rush. I have already sent a message to your teacher. You'll be in tomorrow, but take today to train. Make more clones, there is still work to be done."

"Alright!" Naruto said with a smile, as he ran outside.

The sun hit his face immediately. When his eyes adjusted, he made his most trademark hand sign and summoned 50 clones. He looked around and noticed that a house was in mid-construction. He assigned 10 clones to that house. Next, he noticed a far larger building. He closed his eyes and tried to recall what Houji was using that building for.

His eyes opened when he recalled.

"Mask Shrine!" he said.

Houji had told him a story about the masks that the Uzumaki applied seals to in order to make battle expedient among teams. Houji had taken him to the dilapidated mask shrine that existed in Konoha and had even watched him ward off the barrier seals that prevented the masks from being removed from the shrine. Now, those masks needed a new shrine.

He pointed to 20 clones and ushered them toward the almost built temple. He then dispersed the rest of them to do whatever jobs needed to be done. Given that they didn't have orders, they seem to run around until one of them found a job, and the rest of them gathered around that particular clone. It was as if they were ants, except they actually enjoyed their job. More often than not, one could hear a chorus of humming by one group if they were close enough.

The original Naruto heard a door opening next to the one he ran out of and saw Seito looking around at the incredible number of Narutos.

Naruto waved and yelled over to him, forcing his gaze to lock onto the young boy that he assumed was the original. He walked over to him and took a knee to look at the boy at eye level.

"How are you feeling?" Seito asked.

"I feel great!" Naruto asked with his trademark smile.

"Good." Seito said with a smile. "Listen. I am going to be traveling to _Tetsu no Kuni_ to bring my family back. I'm sure they would be thrilled to know that the Uzumaki are reuniting. They might have connections with other Uzumaki as well. Your family is about to get much larger."

Naruto couldn't help but smile even more at that. As far as Seito understood, Naruto had been an orphan for eleven years, until he met Houji. It would only be a good thing to reunite this boy with his family. As far as Seito had seen, after sharing a battle with Naruto, this boy had immense talent, which made him believe that the blond would grow up to eventually lead this clan into, perhaps, one of its greatest eras.

"Yeah. Alright! Promise when you come back, you'll teach me how to use my Jinsei like a sword?" Naruto said, swinging an imaginary sword around.

"Maybe. Maybe." Seito said, reveling in Naruto's pout. He was mostly kidding. He would love to teach Naruto the taijutsu that came with the Uzumaki's special weapon.

"Teach me something cool, at least." Naruto asked.

"Alright. But you will have to promise to call me 'nii-chan'." Seito said with a smile.

"Is that all? No problem, Seito-nii!" Naruto said with his foxy grin.

Seito ruffled Naruto's hair and reached into his pocket to pull out a piece of paper.

"Channel your chakra into this." he said, handing Naruto the strip of paper. The paper had a seal present on it. He could tell that it was an Uzumaki seal.

Naruto didn't quite understand where this was going, but he trusted Seito's judgment. He grabbed the paper and channeled his chakra into it. A symbol appeared on the perimeter of the present seal. Seito took out another piece and channeled his own chakra into it.

"Did you know that Uzumaki typically fight in teams of 2?"

"Yes." Naruto said.

"Those teams were usually determined with this method. Notice that the design of this seal." he said, pointing to his piece of paper. The outsides of the seal with pointing outward.

"All of the Uzumaki are able to use all Uzumaki seals, but, because there are so many seals, Uzumaki prefer to see which kind of seals they should focus on. The categories are offensive seals, transportation seals, barrier seals, and support seals. There can be a mixture of types, but it has only ever been possible for two types to be mixed. I have a high affinity for offensive seals…but it looks like you can use both barrier and transportation seals."

The seal on Naruto's paper had a circle surrounding the entire seal, but upon closer inspection, the circle appeared to be drawn with arrows.

"Where does fuinjutsu end…?" Naruto asked himself, bewildered by the reach of fuinjutsu.

"We don't know. That's the best part to us Uzumaki. And it's the nightmare of our enemies." Seito said with a smile. "Have you learned any _Sekisho Jutsu (Barrier Techniques)_? _How about Yusou Jutsu (Transportation Techniques)?_ "

"I know the _Sekisho Sannin (Three-Man Barrier)_ , but that's it." Naruto said.

"Ah. So you have the basic barrier down, but it requires too much setup. It's good for you to realize the weakness in Barrier Techniques. You need time. But here's where the benefit in being a mixed type seal user comes in. Your affinity for Transportation Techniques will allow you to avoid and engage in a lot of different techniques. I'm afraid that, even if I gave you a way to think about how to combine the two, it wouldn't help you. You need to come up with uses on your own. Instead, I'll give you a basic Transportation Technique."

Seito handed Naruto a scroll.

"That contains the _Yusuo Kawarimi (Transportation Substitution)._ Almost all Uzumaki use this one. It works similarly to an ordinary Substitution Technique, but instead of you being replaced by a nearby object, you are replaced by an object which has the seal inside that scroll on it. This one uses this hand-sign." Seito said as he grabbed one of his wrists with three of his fingers, sticking his index and middle fingers upward, like an ordinary half-ram hand sign. With the other hand, he stuck up only one finger with his palm facing Naruto.

"I'm sure you're already thinking about ways it can be useful. Practice it while I am gone. I should be back in three weeks." Seito said, fully expecting Naruto to not be able to master these techniques that quickly.

"I'll do it!" Naruto said, putting the scroll into his pocket. He punched his open palm and grinned at Seito. "You better have more techniques for me when you come back, Seito-nii."

"Yes, yes. Let's see how far you get with this one." Seito said, standing up and departing.

Naruto put his hands behind his head. The smile had not left his face as he thought about the fact that he was missing school today. He thought that, if he was, then Hinata might have been at home too.

"I think I'll see how she's doing…and see what she thinks about staying over for a week." Naruto said to himself as he began to walk out of the Uzumaki Compound and into the village.

* * *

Little did he know that the Uzumaki Clan's inductance into the Village Clan Registry would result in an unbelievable turn of events.

~CHAPTER END~

 **A/N:** I am planning on editing my personal story, which is currently on fictionpress. **Sutori no Densetsu** , next. And I will also be writing another story on fictionpress. a romance called **Shooting Star.** I hope that, when they're done, you will support me there too. Please review! I am reading all of them and they inevitably make the story better in the end! Thanks, readers.


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